With his wife Margaret Burbidge he worked at
Harvard University, the
University of Chicago, and the
University of Cambridge, before Margaret obtained work at the
California Institute of Technology, while Geoffrey worked at the
Mount Wilson Observatory and
Palomar Observatory. They both obtained positions at the
University of California, San Diego, in 1962.
B2FH In collaboration with American physicist
William Fowler and British astronomer
Fred Hoyle, he and his wife were co-authors of
Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, a fundamental paper on
stellar nucleosynthesis published in 1957. It is commonly referred to as the
B2FH paper after the initial letters of the four authors' surnames. The paper describes the process of stars burning lighter elements into successively heavier atoms which then are expelled to form other structures in the universe, including other stars and planets. According to Burbidge, the universe is
oscillatory and as such, expands and contracts periodically over infinite time.
Awards and honours •
Warner Prize, with his wife (1959) •
Fellow of the American Physical Society (1988) •
Bruce Medal (1999) •
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, with his wife (2005) •
NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing of the
National Academy of Sciences (2007) • The
Asteroid 11753 Geoffburbidge is named after him ==Personal life==