A Fossil Controversy

It would be difficult to continue my story without reference to a strange development in 1983 when Fred was cheated of a Nobel Prize. There is little doubt, even in the minds of his arch enemies, that his work on the origin of the elements in the 1940's and 1950's constitutes a monumental contribution to science. I have mentioned earlier that theory of nucleogenesis (the synthesis of elements in the hot interiors of stars) was an outstanding scientific landmark of the 1950's, and Fred's role as leader and pioneer of this entire venture is beyond question. Fred's early calculations had shown that in order for carbon to be produced in adequate quantities in stars the nucleus of the carbon atom had to possess an excited state, and precisely this level was later discovered in the laboratory by Willy Fowler and a Bob Whaling. In the further development of the theory he collaborated with Willy Fowler and with Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge in the mid-1950's. In their classic paper B²FH the four authors published a comprehensive account of stellar nucleosynthesis that remained a cardinal influence in astronomy over many decades…