Alpher-Bethe-Gamow

29Jul06

I guess this is what passes for physics humor. Ralph Alpher, a student of George Gamow, did his PhD thesis on big bang nucleosynthesis. In 1948 Alpher wrote a paper with Gamow titled “The Origin of Chemical Elements” (Phys. Rev. 73 1948). Gamow, however, had a humorous side, and invited Hans Bethe (pronounced “beta”) to be included on the author list. The work is now known as the alpha-beta-gamma paper.

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Filed under: Just for Fun, Physics   |  Closed