St John's College News
Fred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionInstitute of Theoretical Astronomy In the early 1960s Hoyle had the idea of creating a national centre for theoretical astronomy that would compete with the great American astronomical schools. He spent several years in protracted negotiations with the University of Cambridge, the Science Research Council, and with other funding bodies attempting to bring this idea to fruition, even…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle vs Ryle 'An assessment of the evidence against the steady-state theory' Hoyle never abandoned the steady state theory, and continued to talk and write about it into the 1990s. This article was delivered by Hoyle as a paper at a conference on 'Astronomy, Cosmology, and Fundamental Physics' held in Bologna in May 1988. It was published in a book based on the conference, Modern Cosmology…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle vs Ryle 'A Professor yclept Martin Ryle' This humorous three-stanza poem was found in the Hoyle Collection amongst letters sent to Fred and Barbara Hoyle in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It refers to the disagreements between Hoyle and the Cambridge radio astronomer Martin Ryle in the 1960s. 'A Professor Yclept Martin Ryle' | 'An Assessment of the Evidence Against the Steady…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle vs Ryle For the steady state theory to be true, the universe must have been, on a large scale, the same for all of its existence. There would be no evolution of different types of stars or galaxies, types which existed only for part of the life of the universe. In the late 1950s, new astronomical objects started to be discovered. They emitted large quantities of radio waves,…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionStellar Nucleosynthesis B-squared-F-H Hoyle went on to work in a famous collaboration with Willy Fowler and Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge to find a solution to the origin of the chemical elements. Their mammoth paper, ‘Synthesis of the elements in stars’ was published in Reviews of Modern Physics, (pp. 547-650) in 1957. With over 1300 citations it is Hoyle’s most frequently…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionStellar Nucleosynthesis The r-Process By 1949 Hoyle was considering the synthesis of carbon-12. In 1951 Ed Salpeter of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) hit upon a way of making carbon-12 from helium and beryllium. But it did not produce enough carbon to account for the abundance of this element in the universe. Hoyle realised that, for the reaction to happen efficiently,…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionStellar Nucleosynthesis Hoyle’s Notebook In a surviving notebook from 1946, Hoyle wrote out the first version of his ideas on element synthesis. From these notes he produced a seminal paper taking the element building process up to iron ('The synthesis of the elements from hydrogen', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 106 (1946), pp. 343-383). In this extract he worries over…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionStellar Nucleosynthesis Over the course of a decade or more Hoyle made a massive contribution to the understanding of how chemical elements are made inside stars. This work culminated in a mammoth paper authored with three other scientists which unravelled the origin of the chemical elements. Hoyle's Notebook | The r-Process | B-squared-F-H Hoyle's Youth | Hoyle in…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionSteady-State Universe A New Model for the Expanding Universe In 1948 Hoyle, Bondi and Gold published their bold ideas in two papers in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS): Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold, ‘The steady-state theory of the expanding universe’, MNRAS 108 (1948), pp. 252-270. Fred Hoyle, ‘A new model for the expanding universe’, MNRAS 108 (1948), pp. 372-382.…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionSteady-State Universe Hoyle, Bondi and Gold In 1946 Fred Hoyle, Hermann Bondi, and Thomas Gold went together to see the classic horror film Dead of Night, which tells the story of a repeating nightmare. On their return home, Gold suggested producing a cyclical film that one could begin viewing at any point. He then speculated that perhaps the universe might be like this, with no beginning…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionSteady-State Universe In the early twentieth century, the astronomer Edmund Hubble discovered that the universe appears to be expanding. In the 1920s the Belgian scientist Georges Lemaître developed the idea that the universe has, since its creation, been continually expanding from a single infinitesimal point, which he called the “primeval atom”. This theory was later named the ‘big bang…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle in Cambridge Fred and Geoff Hoyle Fred Hoyle with his young son Geoffrey in 1944. During the Second World War Hoyle worked on radar for the Admiralty, and this photograph was taken during some scarce time enjoyed with his new family. 'Student's Distinction' | Fred & Geoff Hoyle Hoyle's Youth | Hoyle in Cambridge | Steady-State Universe…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle in Cambridge 'Student’s Distinction' This brief article from a local Yorkshire newspaper reports Hoyle's success in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos in 1936. The Mayhew Prize is awarded to the final-year mathematics student who gains top marks in the Applied Mathematics course. In 1936 Hoyle shared this prize with George Stanley Rushbrooke of St John's College, who went on to become…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle in Cambridge Hoyle came up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in October 1933. He intended to read for a Natural Sciences degree, focussing on chemistry or physics, but his tutor, the mathematician P.W. Wood, advised that he might consider starting by taking the first year of the Mathematical Tripos in order to improve his maths. Hoyle took this advice, and eventually took his whole…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth Hoyle’s Telescope This telescope was given to Hoyle as a present from his family when he was a boy. It is made from brass, and is a refracting telescope. Refracting telescopes use a combination of glass lenses to focus the light from distant objects. The Hoyle Family | Chemical Balance | Scholarship Examination Papers | A Letter to his…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth A Letter to his FatherAug 17th [1930] Leyburn Brent Lane Dartford Dear Dad, I got your letter yesterday morning. If it had come any later I should not have been able to have got the telescope. When I went the assistant showed be [sic] the thing & I asked about the lenses. The object glass is achromatic i.e. it consists of two or three separate lenses. This particular one…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth A Letter to his Father Hoyle wrote this letter to his father Ben on 17 August c.1930. Fred and his mother Mabel were visiting friends in Dartford. During the visit, Fred and Mabel visited Clarksons optical stores on High Holborn in central London, and bought a telescope which still survives today. Fred’s letter describes the observations he made when the telescope had been…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth Scholarship Examination Papers A copy of the examination papers in arithmetic and English that Hoyle sat in February 1926. Hoyle failed the exam, but it turned out that there had been massive cheating in some areas of the county. Candidates from Bingley were therefore given the chance to be reassessed on appeal, and Hoyle was interviewed for a place at the Grammar School by…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth Chemical Balance The young Hoyle became interested in astronomy and physics from books he borrowed from the local library, including Arthur Eddington’s Stars and Atoms. His enquiring mind also became interested in chemistry and his father bought him some equipment. Fred was soon making gunpowder and noxious phosphine gas, and staging explosions that terrified his younger…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle’s Youth The Hoyle Family Hoyle was born in the village of Gilstead, near the town of Bingley, west Yorkshire, on 24 June 1915. His mother, Mabel, had trained at the Royal College of Music, and later worked as a cinema pianist in Bingley. His father, Ben, was a violinist and wool merchant who served as a machine gunner in the First World War. The Hoyle Family | Chemical …read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionHoyle's Youth Fred Hoyle showed early mathematical promise but preferred to play truant than sit in school. He did, however, manage to win a scholarship to Bingley Grammar School in 1926. Here he excelled, skipping his fourth year, and showing such promise that the headmaster, Alan Smailes, encouraged him to sit the entrance examination at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Hoyle was…read moreHoyle Project Public Events
Hoyle Project Public EventsSeveral public events have been held as part of the Hoyle Project, culminating in the Grand Finale on Saturday 19 March 2011. You can find details of the events below, as well as some recordings, image galleries, and hands-on activities produced for them. Grand Finale (Cambridge Science Festival), 19 March 2011 Therein lies a tale (University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas), 26 October…read moreFred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition
Fred Hoyle: An Online ExhibitionFred Hoyle was one of the twentieth century's most creative and controversial scientists. He is most widely remembered as a populariser of science and as the man who coined the phrase 'big bang'. His most scientifically significant work was in the field of stellar nucleosynthesis, the production of chemical elements inside stars. He was also a science fiction author and a keen mountain climber.…read moreSir Fred Hoyle Project
Sir Fred Hoyle ProjectThe Hoyle Collection Outreach and Schools Astronomy in St John's College Library Contact Information The Collection In 2002 Lady Barbara Hoyle, Sir Fred’s widow, donated his library, artefacts, photographs and papers to St John’s College Library. The collection currently comprises some 680 printed books, 152…read morePhotographs taken by Thomas Worden French (1917-2001)
Photographs taken by Thomas Worden French (1917-2001)Box 1 Notebook. Negative index. Films ’42-106’. Lists photos taken 1944-45. Notebook labelled ‘Negative index. Films 107-185, 1001-1002, 200-240’. Lists photos taken 1945-61. Photographs taken in Greece and the Dodecanese for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Sub-Commission of the War Office, 1944-46. Envelope of negatives labelled ‘Greece & Dodecanese’. c. 175 strips of negative film.…read more