| Authorised form of name | Hoyle; Sir; Fred (1915 - 2001) |
| Dates | 1915 - 2001 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Bingley, West Yorkshire |
| Date of birth | 24/06/1915 |
| Place of death | Bournemouth, Dorset |
| Date of death | 20/08/2001 |
| Research field | Astronomy |
| Activity | Education:
Bingley Grammar School; Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Mathematics)
Career:
Studied under Rudolf Peierls (FRS 1945) and under Paul Dirac (FRS 1930); Fellow, St John's College, Cambridge (1939-1972); served in the Admiralty Signals Establishment (World War 2); Assistant Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, Cambridge University (1945-1958); invented the term "Big Bang"; worked with RA Lyttleton (FRS 1955) and Hermann Bondi (FRS 1959) to develop the theory of accretion (1940s); worked with Bondi and Thomas Gold (FRS 1964) to develop the Steady State Theory of the Universe (1950s); worked with Margaret Burbidge (FRS 1964) and Geoffrey Burbidge (FRS 1968); presented radio talks on "The Nature of the Universe (1950); Plumian Professor of Astronomy, Cambridge University (1958-1972); founder and Director, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge (1967-1972); Member, Science Research Council (1967-1972); retired (1972); Honorary Research Professor, Manchester University (1972-2001); Honorary Fellow, St John's College (1973-2001) and Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Honorary Professor, University of Wales, Cardiff (1975-2001); wrote novels
Honours:
Kt 1972
Memberships:
US National Academy of Sciences (Foreign Associate 1969); FRAS (President 1971-1973) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 21/03/1957 |
| Age at election | 41 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1969-1971; VP 1969-1971
Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1974
Lectures:
Bakerian 1968 |
| Relationships | Son of a textile salesman of Bingley, West Yorkshire; married (1939) Barbara Clark; one son, one daughter |
| PublishedWorks | Papers of Sir Fred Hoyle deposited at St John's College Cambridge 2001 [ www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/exhibition/cambridge ] |
| Source | Sources:
Obituaries: Times, Financial Times, Guardian (23 August 2001)
References:
B E J Pagel, 'A Life of Achievement and Controversy', review of Fred Hoyle, Home is Where the Wind Blows in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 329-332, plate
Sir Fred Hoyle, 'The Achievement of Dirac', review of Helge S. Kragh, Dirac: A Scientific Biography in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 183-187
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2003 vol 49 pp 213-248 , plate, by Geoffrey Burbidge |
| Code | NA5692 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/002280 | Hoyle, Sir Fred | nd |
| HWT/32/3 | Agenda, papers and minutes of meeting held 5 July 1971 | July 1971 |
| PB/3/1/3/3/19 | Correspondence with Fred Hoyle following Blackett's 1947 paper on magnetism | March 1949 |
| PB/2/7/9/2 | Correspondence with Fred Hoyle, re magnetic fields of sun and stars | July 1959 |
| EC/1957/08 | Hoyle, Sir Fred: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| RR/65/136 | Referee's report by Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, on a paper 'ß-Transitions in a coulomb field' by Fred Hoyle | February 1938 |
| WF/198 | Grant application from University of Cambridge to the Wolfson Foundation | 1965-1973 |