Fred Hoyle Biography

Birth of Fred Hoyle near Bingley in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Hoyle entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to study mathematics.

Hoyle completed his undergraduate mathematics studies at the University of Cambridge.

Hoyle began research in theoretical physics under Rudolf Peierls before working with Paul Dirac.

Hoyle submitted research on beta transitions in a Coulomb field for scientific review.

Marries Barbara Clark, who remains his wife throughout his scientific career.

Hoyle became a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Hoyle began collaborating with Raymond Lyttleton on stellar evolution and the interaction between stars and interstellar matter.

Hoyle and Lyttleton developed an influential model for gravitational accretion of interstellar material by moving stars.

Hoyle joined wartime radar research at the Admiralty Signals Establishment.

Hoyle contributed mathematical and theoretical work to British naval radar development.

Hoyle worked alongside Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold during wartime scientific service.

Hoyle returned to Cambridge as an assistant lecturer in mathematics.

Hoyle advanced the view that carbon and heavier elements are produced through nuclear reactions inside stars.

Hoyle published foundational work arguing that stars could synthesize elements from hydrogen.

Uses continuous creation of matter to preserve constant cosmic density in steady state cosmology.

Hoyle formulated a field theory in which matter creation maintained the density of an expanding steady-state universe.

Develops the steady state alternative to evolving-universe cosmology with Bondi and Gold.

Hoyle, Bondi, and Gold developed related steady-state cosmologies while exchanging ideas in Cambridge.

Popularises the phrase Big Bang while criticising cosmologies with an initial dense state.

Hoyle used the expression Big Bang during a BBC radio discussion while criticizing finite-age cosmology.

Hoyle presented a widely heard BBC radio series explaining modern astronomy and cosmology.

Delivers influential BBC radio talks explaining cosmology to a wider public.

Hoyle published The Nature of the Universe from material developed for his BBC broadcasts.

Predicts the excited carbon-12 resonance needed for efficient stellar carbon production.

Hoyle published a major analysis of nuclear reactions producing elements from carbon through nickel in very hot stars.

Publishes work explaining how heavy elements are built inside stars.

Hoyle explained how a resonant nuclear state permits efficient carbon production from helium inside stars.

Works with nuclear physicists at Caltech on stellar element formation.

Hoyle and Martin Schwarzschild developed influential models explaining how low-mass stars evolve into luminous red giants.

Hoyle published Frontiers of Astronomy for readers interested in current astronomical research.

Coauthors Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, a landmark paper on stellar nucleosynthesis.

Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Publishes the B2FH stellar nucleosynthesis paper with Burbidge, Burbidge and Fowler.

Hoyle coauthored the B2FH paper identifying nuclear processes responsible for producing chemical elements in stars.

Hoyle published The Black Cloud, a science-fiction novel centred on an intelligent interstellar cloud.

The Royal Society elected Hoyle for major contributions to stellar structure, accretion, nucleosynthesis, and cosmology.

Hoyle became Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at Cambridge.

Hoyle published the science-fiction and political thriller Ossian's Ride.

Hoyle and William Fowler studied radioactive nuclei as clocks for estimating the ages of the Galaxy and Solar System.

Receives the Rittenhouse Medal for astronomical achievement.

Hoyle and Jayant Narlikar examined radio-source counts as a test of steady-state cosmology.

Hoyle supplied the scientific story underlying the BBC television serial A for Andromeda.

Hoyle and John Elliot published a novel based on the television story A for Andromeda.

Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe proposed graphite particles as an important component of interstellar dust.

The sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough begins broadcast on BBC television.

Hoyle and William Fowler investigated physical explanations for powerful extragalactic radio sources.

Hoyle and Richard Tayler argued that stellar processes alone could not explain the observed cosmic helium abundance.

Develops an alternative theory of gravitation with Jayant Narlikar addressing inertia and cosmology.

Uses the Hoyle-Narlikar theory to incorporate Mach's principle into gravitation.

Hoyle and Fowler studied neutrino losses, pair formation, and late evolutionary stages of massive stars.

Hoyle and Narlikar published a gravitational theory incorporating Machian ideas about inertia.

Hoyle joined Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge and William Fowler in analysing compact objects and relativistic astrophysical processes.

Hoyle and Narlikar linked time-symmetric electrodynamics with the cosmological arrow of time.

Hoyle and Fowler published a monograph on nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae.

Hoyle reviewed contemporary cosmological observations and defended alternatives to finite-age universe models.

Hoyle and Geoffrey Burbidge examined energetic models for quasars and their observed redshifts.

Hoyle collaborated on interpreting the emission-line spectra of quasi-stellar objects.

Hoyle founded Cambridge's Institute of Theoretical Astronomy and became its first director.

Hoyle, Robert Wagoner, and William Fowler analysed element synthesis at extremely high temperatures.

Becomes founding director of Cambridge's Institute of Theoretical Astronomy.

UNESCO awarded Hoyle the Kalinga Prize for communicating science through broadcasts, lectures, and writing.

Hoyle began serving as a member of the United Kingdom Science Research Council.

Hoyle delivered the Royal Society's Bakerian Lecture in the physical sciences.

Receives the Royal Society's Bakerian Medal.

Receives the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe published further work on the physical properties of interstellar grains.

Hoyle delivered the Jansky Lecture on the relationship between astronomy and physics.

Gives the Jansky Lectureship before the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The United States National Academy of Sciences elected Hoyle as a foreign associate.

Receives the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Hoyle, Hubert Reeves, and Fowler examined cosmic-ray production of lithium, beryllium, and boron in stars.

Hoyle and Geoffrey Burbidge studied radio-galaxy source counts and redshift distributions as cosmological tests.

Receives the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship from the American Astronomical Society.

Hoyle began a two-year term as President of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Serves as President of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The American Astronomical Society recognised Hoyle's lifetime astronomical research with its Russell Lectureship.

Knighted for services to astronomy.

Hoyle became an honorary research professor at the University of Manchester.

Hoyle's tenure as Cambridge's Plumian Professor ended.

Hoyle retired from his formal Cambridge posts after disputes over university science policy.

Chairs the Anglo-Australian Telescope board during the telescope's inauguration period.

St John's College elected Hoyle as an honorary fellow.

Hoyle published a further assessment of radio-source counts and their cosmological interpretation.

Resigns as director of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy.

Hoyle and Narlikar published a systematic account of action-at-a-distance theories in physics and cosmology.

Receives the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.

Hoyle became an honorary professor at the University of Wales in Cardiff.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe investigated the origin and nature of carbon-rich material in the Galaxy.

Receives the Klumpke-Roberts Award for public understanding of astronomy.

Hoyle published On Stonehenge, presenting an astronomical interpretation of the prehistoric monument.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe proposed links among cometary encounters, climatic change, and ecological catastrophes.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe published Lifecloud about possible cosmic origins and dispersal of life.

Publishes Diseases from Space with Chandra Wickramasinghe.

The American Philosophical Society elected Hoyle to membership.

Publishes Space Travelers with Chandra Wickramasinghe on the origins of life.

Publishes Evolution from Space with Chandra Wickramasinghe, extending their panspermia arguments.

Hoyle published a retrospective review of his cosmological ideas and astronomical research.

Emmanuel College elected Hoyle as an honorary fellow.

Hoyle published an analysis of the structure and physical nature of spiral galaxies.

Hoyle received the ADION Medal for his astronomical work.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe argued in Nature that life should be considered a cosmic phenomenon.

Hoyle published a paper examining astronomical mechanisms that might contribute to ice ages.

Hoyle joined Halton Arp, Geoffrey Burbidge, Narlikar, and Wickramasinghe in presenting an alternative interpretation of the extragalactic universe.

The Astronomische Gesellschaft awarded Hoyle the Karl Schwarzschild Medal.

Hoyle examined possible light-element synthesis in extremely energetic Planck-scale fireballs.

Hoyle, Geoffrey Burbidge, and Narlikar proposed a quasi-steady-state model with episodic creation of matter.

Hoyle and his collaborators developed observational consequences of quasi-steady-state cosmology.

Hoyle shared the Balzan Prize for pioneering contributions to the theory of stellar evolution.

Hoyle and Narlikar reviewed action-at-a-distance electrodynamics and its applications to cosmology.

Receives the Crafoord Prize for contributions to astrophysics.

Hoyle received the Crafoord Prize for pioneering work on nuclear processes in stars and stellar evolution.

Publishes A Different Approach to Cosmology with Burbidge and Narlikar.

Dies in Bournemouth after suffering strokes in later life.