ASTRONOMERS & ASTROPHYSICISTS A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z                    HOME ABOUT CATEGORIES SITE MAP COPYRIGHT ADVERTISE CONTACT entire Web this site Burbidge, (Eleanor) Margaret, née Peachey (1919-) and Geoffrey Ronald (1925-) British-born wife and husband astrophysicists, who have been based in the United States for many years. Margaret was educated at the University of London, where she remained until 1951. She was director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, has worked at Yerkes Observatory and the California Institute of Technology, and has been at the University of California, San Diego, since 1962, becoming the first director of its Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. In 1957 she, husband Geoffrey Burbidge, William Fowler, and Fred Hoyle showed how all of the elements except the very lightest are produced by nuclear reactions in stellar interiors (see nucleosynthesis). She is also well known for her spectroscopic studies of quasars and has played a major role in developing instrumentation for the Hubble Space Telescope. Geoffrey Burbidge was educated at the Universities of Bristol and London, where he earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1951. He has said that he got into astronomy by marrying an astronomer. He has worked at Cambridge University, the California Institute of Technology, and Yerkes Observatory, and has been at the University of California, San Diego since 1962, aside from six years as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. He has done research on the physics of non-thermal radiation processes, and the structures and masses of galaxies and quasars. Adapted in part from the biographical entry at The Bruce Medalists website Related category    • ASTRONOMERS AND ASTROPHYSICISTS Also on this site: Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy & Sustainable Living Encyclopedia of History Transport Concepts & Designs (partner site) BACK TO TOP