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Ralph Alpher

! scientist · # tag · @ author
1921-2007 · Cosmology, Nuclear physics, Astrophysics
American cosmologist who, together with George Gamow, predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation and explained the origin of light elements in the Big Bang. His 1948 dissertation laid the foundations of the theory of primordial nucleosynthesis, but his contribution remained undervalued for a long time.

Biography

Defended his doctoral dissertation at George Washington University under Gamow. In the famous paper with Bethe and Gamow (the αβγ paper), it was Alpher who carried out the main calculations. Predicted the temperature of the cosmic microwave background at about 5 K (later refined to 2.7 K). Worked at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, then at General Electric and Union College. Received the National Medal of Science in 2005.

Key discoveries

💡 As a joke, Gamow included his friend Hans Bethe as a co-author of the paper so that the surnames would sound like 'alpha, beta, gamma'. The paper was published on April 1, 1948. Bethe, upon learning this, just laughed.
Quote: "The prediction of the background was a natural consequence of the model. It simply fell out of the equations."
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Related tags
big bangcosmic microwave backgroundnucleosynthesis
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Planck's law
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Arno PenziasStephen HawkingEdwin HubbleFred HoyleGeorges LemaîtreWilhelm WienLudwig BoltzmannGeorge Gamow

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