B2FH Paper - Writing of The Paper

Writing of The Paper

Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge wrote the first draft of the paper in 1955 at Caltech after moving to Pasadena from Cambridge U.K where the four authors had initially worked up the concept. They incorporated extensive observations and experimental data to support the theory. Both Hoyle and Fowler worked extensively on the early draft; but unfortunately Hoyle had little interest in polishing the paper, so the later draft suffered a downgrade from what he had achieved in his 1954 paper. Knowing of Hoyle's distaste for editing explains why this review paper was weaker than Hoyle's prior work. Geoffrey Burbidge says that it is a misconception some have had that Fowler was the leader of the group. "There was no leader in the group," he wrote in 2008, "We all made substantial contributions." Yet, on many other occasions each other author, including G. R. Burbidge, acknowledged Hoyle as their unquestioned leader.