Posted on 08/24/2007 2:25:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - Ralph Alpher, a physicist whose pioneering work on the underpinnings of the "Big Bang" theory went unheralded for years while others won a Nobel Prize, has died. He was 86.
Alpher died Aug. 12 in Austin, Texas. He had been honored by President Bush with a National Medal of Science in July, but was unable to attend the ceremony because of his failing health, Union College in Schenectady said in announcing his death. He had been on the Union faculty.
The "Big Bang" theory holds that the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
As a doctoral candidate at George Washington University, Alpher and Johns Hopkins University physicist Robert Herman theorized in 1948 that the expansion of the universe leaves behind radiation and traces of the initial explosion that gave it birth could still be found.
That was confirmed in 1964 by the observations of Bell Laboratories astronomers. The Bell scientists had been trying to solve a problem of microwave "noise" at a radio antenna in New Jersey when they discovered the noise was the remnant of Big Bang radiation predicted by Alpher and Herman.
The Bell astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics, along with a Soviet scientist.
"Was I hurt? Yes! How the hell did they think I'd feel?," Alpher said in a 1999 Discover magazine article. "I was miffed at the time that they'd never even invited us down to see the damned radiotelescope. It was silly to be annoyed, but I was."
He and Herman did win the Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. Herman died in 1997.
"Ralph really wanted the big prize and a lot of us think he deserved the Nobel, but it was one of those unfortunate situations," 1973 Nobel winner Ivar Giaever, a retired General Electric physicist, told the Times Union of Albany.
Alpher worked at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady starting in 1955. He became a professor of physics and astronomy at Union College in 1986 and retired in 2004.
Always a bridesmaid, but everyone knew who he was.
Did he go out with a bang?
Turns out he died several years ago—we’ve just realized it now.
Just my guess his theory will not stand the test of time.
I didn’t know, and am glad I didn’t.
Just my guess, it won’t be figured out in our lifetimes.
I thought “Ralph Alpher” was one of the original Little Rascals. Or maybe I should just get my hearing checked.
“First there was nothing, and then it exploded.”
I got a funny feeling that he had a big surprise immediately following his death when he had a meeting with the non-existent Creator.
A lot of us with physics and math backgrounds knew who he was, brilliant, gifted, insightful.
RIP
“In with a bang out with a whimper.”
Alpher, Bethe, Gamow. A Great (imginary) trio!
RIP.
Clever and funny. Thanks for the laugh.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.