AKA Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge

Born: 24-Sep-1925
Birthplace: Chipping Norton, England
Died: 26-Jan-2010
Location of death: La Jolla, CA [1]
Cause of death: Illness

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Astronomer, Physicist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Quasi-steady state cosmology

Geoffrey Burbidge conducted extensive research into the structures and masses of galaxies, and quasi-stellar objects and other non-thermal sources of radiation. Trained in physics, he said that he was drawn into astronomy by marrying an astronomer, E. Margaret Burbidge. Burbidge and his wife, in collaboration with William A. Fowler and Fred Hoyle, showed that most of the higher elements can be synthesized only in supernovae. Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge also argued for quasi-steady state cosmology, an alternative to the much more widely-accepted Big Bang theory.

Wife: E. Margaret Burbidge (astrophysicist, m. 2-Apr-1948, one daughter)
Daughter: Sarah Burbidge (b. 1956)

    University: BS, University of Bristol (1946)
    University: PhD Physics, University College London (1951)
    Scholar: Harvard University
    Scholar: Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago
    Teacher: Astronomy, Cambridge University
    Scholar: Mt. Wilson Observatory
    Scholar: Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology
    Teacher: Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
    Professor: University of California at San Diego (1962-)
    Administrator: Director, Kitt Peak National Observatory (1978-84)

    Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal 2005 (with E. Margaret Burbidge)
    Bruce Medal 1999
    American Astronomical Society
    Astronomical Society of the Pacific President (1974-76)
    Royal Society
    Naturalized US Citizen 1942
    English Ancestry
    Asteroid Namesake 11753 Geoffburbidge
    Risk Factors: Obesity

Official Website:
http://casswww.ucsd.edu/personal/gburbidge.html

Author of books:
Quasi-Stellar Objects (1967, with E. Margaret Burbidge)
The Masses of Galaxies (1975, with E. Margaret Burbidge)

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