Synthesis of Elements in Stars.

£3,750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

we are made of star-stuff - the B2FH paper First edition, journal issue, of one of the most revolutionary papers in modern science, presenting conclusive proof that the heavy elements which make life possible are created in the stars and distributed throughout the universe by supernovae. Lead author Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) was to become a 'towering figure in the history of modern physics and astronomy... a key driver of three great revolutionary thrusts in the development of physics and astronomy over the last 70 years' (University of California obituary). A fresh, attractive copy in the original wrappers. By the early 1950s it was clear that the lighter elements, hydrogen, helium, and lithium, were created during the Big Bang, but there were two competing theories on the origin of the heavier elements. Physicist George Gamow believed that they were all made at the origin of the universe, but in 1954 astronomer Fred Hoyle proposed that they were instead created by the process of nuclear fusion in stars. British astronomer Margaret Burbidge was at the time working at Caltech, and she and her husband Geoffrey collaborated with Hoyle and William Fowler to investigate the hypothesis. 'Over a two-year period, 1955-56, the Burbidges and Fowler then gathered a wealth of evidence in support of Hoyle's theory. These included astronomical observations taken by Margaret of the elemental abundances, and the laboratory measurements of nuclear reactions gathered by Fowler. The result

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.