Fred Hoyle’s Universe

Jane Gregory0-19-850791-7, 9780198507918

For decades Hoyle’s slightly cherubic face and crisp waves of hair graced many an article in the popular press and science fiction novel jacket. His was the Voice of the Astronomer to the public, and the pioneer in the steady-state theory of cosmology to the professional, but behind the facade he was subject to the same controversies and squabbles endured by any other run-of-the-mill academic. Gregory (science and technology studies, University College, London) keeps both the public and the private in mind as she describes the career and family life of Hoyle, his studies and the dedication they inspired in him to conduct a life in science, his confrontations with Ryle and Caltech, his publication of masses of work and his activism on behalf of his more reticent colleagues for funding and recognition for their work, his move to Cambridge and eventual resignation, his contributions to debates over the proper winners of Nobel Prizes, his sojourns in other disciplines and ideas, and his legacy. Gregory supplies a number of interesting photographs and a concise list of references.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 6
Acknowledgements……Page 10
1 Coming to light……Page 12
2 Hut no. 2……Page 30
3 Into the limelight……Page 47
4 New world……Page 69
5 Under fire……Page 89
6 New Genesis……Page 105
7 Eclipsed……Page 122
8 Fighting for space……Page 140
9 Storm clouds……Page 158
10 ‘Dear Mr Hogg’……Page 175
11 His institute……Page 197
12 The end of the beginning……Page 219
13 The Astronomer Hoyle……Page 239
14 The beginning of the end……Page 257
15 On the loose……Page 277
16 Apocalyptic visions……Page 294
17 Evolution on trial……Page 313
18 A new cosmology……Page 332
References……Page 353
Picture acknowledgements……Page 403
A……Page 404
B……Page 405
C……Page 406
E……Page 407
G……Page 408
H……Page 409
I……Page 410
M……Page 411
N……Page 412
P……Page 413
R……Page 414
S……Page 415
U……Page 416
Y……Page 417