Fowler, William Alfred

▪ 1996

      U.S. nuclear astrophysicist (b. Aug. 9, 1911, Pittsburgh, Pa.—d. March 14, 1995, Pasadena, Calif.), formulated the widely accepted theory that almost all the chemical elements in the universe, including those that make up humans, were created in stars from primordial hydrogen and helium, and with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (q.v.) won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics for contributing to the understanding of stellar evolution. Fowler, who earned (1936) a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology, spent his entire professional career there, becoming professor emeritus in 1982. He and colleagues Fred Hoyle, Margaret Burbidge, and Geoffrey Burbidge used particle accelerators at the university's Kellogg Radiation Laboratory to demonstrate that nuclear processes in stars could manufacture virtually all the elements. Fowler and Hoyle set forth this theory in the seminal paper "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars" (1957), and the two collaborated on the 1965 book Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars and Supernovae. Fowler described a process in stars called nucleosynthesis, in which heavier elements are made progressively from lighter ones, beginning with hydrogen and helium in the nuclear reactions that produce a star's light and heat. The heaviest elements are created during the death of more massive stars in explosions called supernovas, which then scatter the elements far into interstellar space. Fowler also helped design proximity fuses during World War II, conducted work with Hoyle in radio astronomy, and studied quasars, pulsars, and neutrinos. He was the recipient in 1974 of the U.S. National Medal of Science.

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