William Alfred Fowler (August 9, 1911 – March 14, 1995) was an American nuclear physicist, later astrophysicist, who, with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is known for his theoretical and experimental research into nuclear reactions within stars and the energy elements produced in the process[1] and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper.
On 9 August 1911, Fowler was born in Pittsburgh. Fowler's parents were John MacLeod Fowler and Jennie Summers Watson. Fowler was the eldest of his siblings, Arthur and Nelda.[1][2]
The family moved to Lima, Ohio, a steam railroad town, when Fowler was two years old. Growing up near the Pennsylvania Railroad yard influenced Fowler's interest in locomotives. In 1973, he travelled to the Soviet Union just to observe the steam engine that powered the Trans-Siberian Railway plying the nearly 2,500-kilometre (1,600 mi) route that connects Khabarovsk and Moscow.[3]
In 1936, Fowler became a research fellow at Caltech. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1938.[6] In 1939, Fowler became an assistant professor at Caltech.[4]
Although an experimental nuclear physicist, Fowler's most famous paper was his collaboration with Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge, "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars" Significantly, Margaret Burbidge was first author, Geoffrey Burbidge second, Fowler third, and Cambridge cosmologist Fred Hoyle. That 1957 paper in Reviews of Modern Physics[7] categorized most nuclear processes for origin of all but the lightest chemical elements in stars. It is widely known as the B2FH paper. Though the theory of Stellar Nucleosynthesis established in the paper was later cited by the Nobel Committee as the reason for his 1983 Nobel in Physics, Margaret Burbidge did not share in the award.
A lifelong fan of steam locomotives, Fowler owned several working models of various sizes.[15]
Fowler's first wife was Adriane Fay (née Olmsted) Fowler (1912–1988). They had two daughters, Mary Emily and Martha.[2][16]
In December 1989, Fowler married Mary Dutcher (1919–2019), an artist, in Pasadena, California.[2][16]
On 11 March 1995, Fowler died from kidney failure in Pasadena, California. He was 83.[2][17]
Publicationsedit
Fowler, W.A.; Lauritsen, C.C (1949-05-26). "Gamma radiation from light nuclei under proton bombardment" (PDF). Physical Review. 73 (2): 314–315. Bibcode:1948PhRv...73..181F. doi:10.1103/physrev.73.181.2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-08-08.
Cook, C.W.; Fowler, W.A.; Lauritsen, C.C.; Lauritsen, T. (1957-07-15). "B12, C12 and the Red Hot Giants". Physical Review. 107 (2): 508. Bibcode:1957PhRv..107..508C. doi:10.1103/physrev.107.508.
Clayton, D.D; Fowler, W.A; Hull, T.E; Zimmerman, B.A. (1961-03-01). "Neutron capture chains in heavy element synthesis". Annals of Physics. 12 (3): 331–408. Bibcode:1961AnPhy..12..331C. doi:10.1016/0003-4916(61)90067-7. ISSN 0003-4916.
Fowler, W. A. (June 1958). Temperature and Density Conditions for Nucleogenesis by Fusion Processes in Stars. W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. doi:10.2172/4308210. OSTI 4308210.
Seeger, P. A.; Fowler, W. A.; Clayton, Donald D. (1965). "Nucleosynthesis of heavy elements by neutron capture". Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 11: 121–166. Bibcode:1965ApJS...11..121S. doi:10.1086/190111. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
Bodansky, D.; Clayton, Donald D.; Fowler, W.A. (1968-01-22). "Nucleosynthesis during silicon burning". Physical Review Letters. 20 (4): 161–164. Bibcode:1968PhRvL..20..161B. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.20.161. Archived from the original on 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
Holmes, J.A.; Woosley, S.E.; Fowler, W.A.; Zimmerman, B.A. (1976). "Tables of thermonuclear-reaction-rate for neutron-induced reactions on heavy nuclei". Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables. 18: 305. Bibcode:1976ADNDT..18..305H. doi:10.1016/0092-640x(76)90011-5.
Caughlan, G.R.; Fowler, W.A.; Zimmerman, B.A. (September 1975). "Thermonuclear reaction rates, II". Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.13: 69–112. Bibcode:1975ARA&A..13...69F. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.13.090175.000441. Archived from the original on 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
Burbidge, G. (1996). "William Alfred Fowler, 1911 - 14 March 1995". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 37 (1): 89. Bibcode:1996QJRAS..37...89B.
^ abcd"William Alfred Fowler, Nobel Prize for Physics, 1983". Geni.com. 9 August 1911. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
^Sidharth, B. G., ed. (2008). A century of ideas: perspectives from leading scientists of the 20th century. Fundamental theories of physics. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-4020-4359-8. LCCN 2008923553. Retrieved 2022-03-21 – via Internet Archive.
^"Presidential Medal for Merit. February 2, 1948. - Published Papers and Official Documents - Linus Pauling and the International Peace Movement". Oregon State University. Archived from the original on 2018-07-18. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
^"Photo Archive in Nuclear Astrophysics". Clemson University. 1999. Archived from the original on 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
^"APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
^"William Alfred Fowler". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
^"William Alfred Fowler". Sonoma State University. 2021-07-07. Archived from the original on 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
^"William A. Fowler - Facts". Nobel Prize. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
^"Donald D. Clayton". Caltech. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
^"Photo Archive in Nuclear Astrophysics". Clemson University. 1999. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
^Dicke, William (1995-03-16). "William A. Fowler, 83, Astrophysicist, Dies". The New York Times. p. B14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
External linksedit
Wikiquote has quotations related to William Alfred Fowler.
Oral history interview transcript with William Fowler on 8 June 1972, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session I
Oral history interview transcript with William Fowler on 9 June 1972, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session II
Oral history interview transcript with William Fowler on 5 February 1973, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session III
Oral history interview transcript with William Fowler on 6 February 1973, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session IV
Oral history interview transcript with William Fowler on 30 May 1974, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives - Session V
1983 Audio Interview with William Fowler by Martin Sherwin Voices of the Manhattan Project
W.A. Fowler: Radioactive elements of a low atomic number, Ph.D. dissertation
William Alfred Fowler on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1983 Experimental and Theoretical Nuclear Astrophysics; the Quest for the Origin of the Elements
Guide to the Papers of William A. Fowler, 1917-1994