Margaret Burbidge | |
|---|---|
 Burbidge in 1974 | |
| Born | Eleanor Margaret Peachey (1919-08-12)12 August 1919 |
| Died | 5 April 2020(2020-04-05) (aged 100) San Francisco, California |
| Citizenship | American (from 1977) |
| Known for | B2FH paper |
| Spouse | Geoffrey Burbidge |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society(1964) Henry Norris Russell Lectureship(1984) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society(2005) and others |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Stellar nucleosynthesis,quasars, galaxyrotation curves |
Eleanor Margaret Burbidge,FRS (née Peachey; 12 August 1919 – 5 April 2020) was a British-Americanobservational astronomer andastrophysicist. In the 1950s, she was one of the founders ofstellar nucleosynthesis and wasfirst author of the influentialB2FH paper. During the 1960s and 1970s she worked on galaxyrotation curves andquasars, discovering themost distant astronomical object then known. In the 1980s and 1990s she helped develop and utilise theFaint Object Spectrograph on theHubble Space Telescope. Burbidge was also well known for her work opposingdiscrimination against women in astronomy while also opposingpositive discrimination.
Burbidge held several leadership and administrative posts, includingdirector of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (1973–1975), president of theAmerican Astronomical Society (1976–1978), andpresident of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1983). Burbidge worked at theUniversity of London Observatory,Yerkes Observatory of theUniversity of Chicago, theCavendish Laboratory of theUniversity of Cambridge, theCalifornia Institute of Technology, and theUniversity of California San Diego (UCSD). From 1979 to 1988 she was the first director of the Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences at UCSD, where she worked from 1962 until her retirement.
Burbidge studied atUniversity College London (UCL), where she received an undergraduate degree in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1943.[1] During theSecond World War, she acted as acaretaker atUniversity of London Observatory (ULO); thewartime blackout made it easier for her to use the observatory's telescopes.[2] In August 1944, her observations at ULO were twice interrupted byV-1 flying bomb explosions nearby.[1] She was turned down for apostdoctoral fellowship fromCarnegie Observatories in 1945 because the job required observing atMount Wilson Observatory, which was reserved for men only at that time.[3][4] From 1948-51,[5] she taught astronomy at ULO to undergraduate students from across theUniversity of London system, includingArthur C. Clarke who was then an undergraduate atKing's College London.[1]
In 1951 she took a position at theUniversity of Chicago'sYerkes Observatory, Wisconsin, her first job in the United States.[6] Her research during this period focused on the abundances ofchemical elements in stars. She returned to the UK in 1953, when Margaret and her husbandGeoffrey Burbidge were invited to work withWilliam Alfred Fowler andFred Hoyle at theUniversity of Cambridge.[1] The team combined data on elemental abundances produced by the Burbidges with Hoyle's hypothesis that all chemical elements might be produced in stars by a series of nuclear reactions, and Fowler's laboratory experiments on those reactions.[1] The idea became known asstellar nucleosynthesis. They published their model in a series of papers,[7][8][9] culminating in amagnum opus in 1957,[10] now known as theB2FH paper after the initials of Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler & Hoyle. Margaret Burbidge was thefirst author of the paper, which was written while she was pregnant.[1][11][12] The paper demonstrated that most heavier chemical elements were formed in stellar evolution.[13] The theory they developed remains the fundamental basis for stellar nucleosynthesis. Fowler was later awarded the 1983Nobel Prize in Physics (shared withSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar) for his work on nucleosynthesis, and expressed surprise that Burbidge was not included.[1]
When Fowler moved back to the U.S., he advised the Burbidges to come with him to California, suggesting Margaret (the observer) should re-apply for the fellowship atMount Wilson Observatory while Geoff (the theorist) should seek the Kellogg Fellowship atCaltech.[11] Margaret's application was again refused on gender grounds, so the couple swapped applications. Geoff won the position at Mount Wilson, while Margaret took the Caltech job in 1955. Whenever Geoff was required to go observing on Mount Wilson, Margaret would accompany him, ostensibly as his assistant.[11] In reality, Geoff worked in thephotographic dark room while Margaret operated the telescope.[1] When the observatory's management found out, they eventually agreed that she could observe there, but only if she and her husband stayed in a separate self-catered cottage on the grounds, rather than the catered dormitory which had been designed for men only.[2]
She joined theUniversity of California San Diego (UCSD) in 1962.[6] In the 1960s and 1970s she measured the masses, compositions, androtation curves ofgalaxies and performed early spectroscopic studies ofquasars.[12] Her discoveries in this area includedQSO B1442+101 at aredshift of 3.5, making it themost distant known object at the time, a record which she held from 1974 to 1982.[1][14] She was a supporter of thesteady state theory ofcosmology, but her own work on quasars helped to support the alternativeBig Bang theory.[6]
In 1972 Burbidge became director of theRoyal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), on secondment from UCSD.[12][15] For 300 years the post had always been held by theAstronomer Royal, but in 1972 the positions were split, withMartin Ryle appointed as Astronomer Royal and Burbidge as RGO director. The official explanation was that because Ryle was a radio astronomer, he was unsuitable to lead an optical observatory. Burbidge sometimes attributed the split to sexism,[4] and at other times to politics intended to reduce theclout of the RGO director.[16] Burbidge left the RGO in 1974, fifteen months after joining, due to controversy over moving theIsaac Newton Telescope from RGO headquarters atHerstmonceux Castle toRoque de los Muchachos Observatory in theCanary Islands.[16]
Burbidge campaigned in opposition todiscrimination against women in astronomy and was also opposed topositive discrimination. In 1972 she turned down theAnnie J. Cannon Award of theAmerican Astronomical Society (AAS) because it was awarded to women only:[6] "It is high time that discrimination in favor of, as well as against, women in professional life be removed".[1] Her letter declining the prize caused the AAS to set up its first committee on the status of women in astronomy.[1] In 1976, she became the first female president of the AAS.[17] During her term as president she convinced the members to ban AAS meetings in states which had not ratified theEqual Rights Amendment to theUS Constitution.[1] In 1984 the AAS awarded her its highest honor, regardless of gender, theHenry Norris Russell Lectureship.[18]
From 1979 to 1988, she served as the first director of the UCSD'sCenter for Astrophysics and Space Science.[12][6] In 1981 she was electedPresident of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), serving her one-year term from February 1982 to February 1983.[17]
At UCSD she helped develop theFaint Object Spectrograph for theHubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990.[1] With this instrument, she and her team discovered that the galaxyMessier 82 contains asupermassive black hole at its center.[4][1] Asprofessor emerita at UCSD she continued to be active in research until the early 21st century. Burbidge authored over 370 research papers.[19]
Eleanor Margaret Peachey was born inDavenport,Stockport, UK.[2] As a child, Margaret deduced that her birth had been exactly nine months after theArmistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the First World War, so concluded that she was probably conceived when the armistice was announced.[20] She was the daughter of Marjorie Stott Peachey and Stanley John Peachey;[21] her father was a lecturer inchemistry at theManchester School of Technology (now part of theUniversity of Manchester) and her mother was one of his students.[20] A few years after Margaret was born, Stanley obtained apatent related to thevulcanisation of rubber, which made enough money for the family to move toLondon in 1921 where he set up his ownindustrial chemistry laboratory.[20] Margaret first became interested in astronomy aged 3 or 4, after seeing the stars on a ferry trip across theEnglish Channel.[1] By age 12, she was reading astronomy textbooks byJames Jeans, a distant relative of her mother.[1]
On 2 April 1948, Margaret Peachey marriedGeoffrey Burbidge. The couple had met six months earlier at University College London.[2][1] Geoffrey was atheoretical physicist, but Margaret's passion for astronomy convinced him to switch totheoretical astrophysics.[1] The two collaborated on much of their subsequent research. The couple had a daughter, Sarah, who was born in late 1956. In 1977, Margaret became a United States citizen.[2] Geoffrey Burbidge died in 2010.[22] Margaret Burbidge died on 5 April 2020, in San Francisco at age 100 after afall.[2]
I was not madeAstronomer Royal. This gave one less leverage in any political battle.
