Fred Hoyle's Universe

417 Pages·2005·2.31 MB·English

by  Jane Gregory

FRED HOYLE’S UNIVERSE
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FRED HOYLE’S
UNIVERSE
Jane Gregory
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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© Jane Gregory 2005
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ISBN 0–19–850791–7
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Coming to light 1
Schooldays and scientific ambition; undergraduate life at Cambridge;
becoming a mathematician; graduate studies; marriage to Barbara
2 Hut no. 2 19
War posting; radar; meeting Bondi and Gold; radar problems; a trip to the
USA; the origin of the elements; return to Cambridge
3 Into the limelight 36
A new cosmology; post-war gloom; steady-state theory in the spotlight; The
Nature of the Universe; the Massey conference; confronting Ryle
4 New world 58
Out of the doldrums; an American road trip; getting noticed at Caltech;
meeting Willy Fowler; finding a new state of carbon; the cosmological
controversy; religion and politics; A Decade of Decision
5 Under fire 78
Fowler, the Burbidges and the origin of the elements; a challenge from Ryle;
Frontiers of Astronomy; cosmological controversy
6 New Genesis 94
The origin of the elements and B2FH; The Black Cloud; Clarkson
Close; the Plumian Chair; the age of the universe; Ossian’s Ride;
Alchemy of Love
7 Eclipsed 111
Funding for science; the politics of science; an idea for an institute; the
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics; another
challenge from Ryle
vi (cid:1) Contents
8 Fighting for space 129
Responding to Ryle; trouble for the institute; problems with computers; A for
Andromeda on television; Rockets in Ursa Major on stage; the
institute goes to Sussex
9 Storm clouds 147
Hoyle on television; the Ferranti ATLAS affair; Fifth Planet; what, and
where, are quasars?; curing the Los Angeles smog; a new theory of gravity
(without apples); Roger Tayler and the helium abundance
10 ‘Dear Mr Hogg’ 164
Problems at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical
Physics; problems at the Treasury for the Sussex institute; Hoyle lobbies the
Minister; Hoyle makes a decision and takes to the hills; an invitation from
the Minister; the Vice-Chancellor’s Special Committee on the Hoyle
Problem
11 His institute 186
A change of Government; Of Men and Galaxies; more trouble for the
institute; a blow for steady-state theory; Hoyle despairs of Cambridge; the
institute comes to Cambridge
12 The end of the beginning 208
Establishing the institute; October the First is Too Late; more on the
quasar redshift; steady-state theory revisited; Stonehenge is an observatory;
Australia will host a telescope for the southern hemisphere; organic polymers
in space
13 The Astronomer Hoyle 228
Problems at the institute; Northern Hemisphere Review; an attack on the
Royal Observatories; the new Astronomer Royal; the merger at Cambridge;
Sir Fred
14 The beginning of the end 246
Resignation, The Inferno, the Anglo-Australian Telescope
15 On the loose 266
Moving to the Lake District; how to write science fiction; pulsars; controversy
over Nobel Prize; Hoyle’s 60th birthday
Contents (cid:1) vii
16 Apocalyptic visions 283
Academic isolation; more on interstellar dust; life from space; diseases from
space; championing nuclear power; The Incandescent Ones; dust grains
are bacteria; the last Munro; ‘there must be a God’; the next Ice Age
17 Evolution on trial 302
The battle of Little Rock; the cosmic intelligence; controversy over another
Nobel Prize; Comet Halley and Comet Halley; feathers fly over ‘fake’
fossil; autobiographies; astrobiology
18 A new cosmology 321
Steady-state theory turns 40; the redshift problem; the quasi-steady-state
theory; Hoyle’s legacy
References 342
Picture acknowledgements 392
Index 393
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Acknowledgements
The research for this book has its roots in my postgraduate studies, and my
PhD thesis ‘Fred Hoyle and the Popularisation of Cosmology’ (University of
London, 1998). The people who helped with that deserve thanks here too.
More recently, Hoyle’s colleagues have generously been the source of
information, entertainment and enlightenment, and meeting them was a
privilege. Their names are given alongside their contributions.
Of the many libraries that were useful, three deserve special mention.
The Caltech Institute Archives at the California Institute of Technology is a
remarkable resource, and proved invaluable. Shelley Erwin, Bonnie Ludt
and Jay Labinger enabled my very productive time there. The National
Archive at Kew, still known to many as ‘the PRO’ from its days as the Public
Record Office, is a national treasure. The Library of St John’s College,
Cambridge holds Hoyle’s personal papers, and Jonathan Harrison has done
sterling work in cataloguing this extensive collection in the short time since
Hoyle’s death. He was always helpful and hospitable in the face of my
frequent requests.
Sincere thanks are due to four people who read draft manuscripts: Jenny
Campbell, Alison Goddard, Andrew Gregory (no relation) and Colin
Gregory (my father). Each brought a different critical perspective to bear
on the book, and helped me to see it with fresh eyes.
Two colleagues generously shared unpublished research with me. Carolyn
Little’s work on radioastronomy in Australia provided important insights,
and Allan Jones’ on-going study of the early days of science broadcasting
added valuable context.
I am grateful to Cambridge University for allowing me access to adminis-
trative records, and to Jacqueline Cox for facilitating this research. Thanks
too to Jen Cole and Simon Lock for assistance with Chapter 18, to Andrew
Gregory, Ofer Lahav and Steve Miller for sharing their technical expertise,
and to Bruce Armbruster and John Faulkner for opening doors in Califor-
nia. Jacqueline Cox, Carol Dyhouse, Shelley Erwin, Jonathan Harrison,
Geoffrey Hoyle and Angela Milner responded mercifully to last-minute
cries for help. Lawyers Carter-Ruck gave constructive and sensitive advice.