Related papers: In Memory of Al Cameron
Professor Alan Selman has been a giant in the field of computational complexity for the past forty years. This article is an appreciation, on the occasion of his retirement, of some of the most lovely concepts and results that Alan has…
The first prediction of the existence of "relict radiation" or radiation remaining from the "Big Bang" was made in 1948. This derived from the seminal dissertation work of Ralph A. Alpher. He was a doctoral student of George A. Gamow and…
The cosmic evolution of the chemical elements from the Big Bang to the present time is driven by nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and stellar explosions. A cycle of matter recurrently re-processes metal-enriched stellar ejecta into the…
A century ago, nuclear physics entered astrophysics, giving birth to a new field of science referred to as "Nuclear Astrophysics". With time, it developed at an impressive pace into a vastly inter- and multidisciplinary discipline bringing…
This editorial introduces the J. Phys. B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Special Issue "Atomic and Molecular Processes in the Ultracold Regime, the Chemical Regime and Astrophysics" dedicated to Professor Alexander Dalgarno…
With this note, we remember our friend Maria Krawczyk, who passed away this year, on May 24th. We briefly outline some of her physics interests and main accomplishments, and her great human and moral qualities.
From 1929 to his death in 1944, A. Eddington worked on developing a highly ambitious theory of fundamental physics that covered everything in the physical world, from the tiny electron to the universe at large. His unfinished theory…
The origin of the elements is a fascinating question that scientists have been trying to answer for the last seven decades. The formation of light elements in the primordial universe and heavier elements in astrophysical sources occurs…
A brief survey of nuclide abundances in the solar-system and in cosmic rays and of the believed mechanisms of their synthesis is given. The role of spallation processes in nucleosynthesis is discussed. A short review of recent measurements,…
The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of cosmic chemical evolution. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements, and the…
In 1986 Alex Dalgarno published a paper entitled "Is Interstellar Chemistry Useful?" By the middle 1970s, and perhaps even earlier, Alex had hoped that astronomical molecules would prove to: possess significant diagnostic utility; control…
This review touches on historical aspects, going back to the early days of nuclear astrophysics, initiated by B$^2$FH and Cameron, discusses (i) the required nuclear input from reaction rates and decay properties up to the nuclear equation…
Our Sun and planetary system were born about 4.5 billion years ago. How did this happen and what is our heritage from these early times? This review tries to address these questions from an astrochemical point of view. On the one hand, we…
We bring you, as usual, the Sun and Moon and stars, plus some galaxies and a new section on astrobiology. Some highlights are short (the newly identified class of gamma-ray bursts, and the Deep Impact on Comet 9P/ Tempel 1), some long (the…
The 75th anniversary of Turing's seminal paper and his centennial year anniversary occur in 2011 and 2012, respectively. It is natural to review and assess Turing's contributions in diverse fields in the light of new developments that his…
William P. Bidelman--Editor of Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1956 to 1961--passed away on 2011 May 3, at the age of 92. He was one of the last of the masters of visual stellar spectral classification and the…
Stephen Hawking's contributions to the understanding of gravity, black holes and cosmology were truly immense. They began with the singularity theorems in the 1960s followed by his discovery that black holes have an entropy and consequently…
A complete history of early atomic models would fill volumes, but a reasonably coherent tale of the path from mechanical atoms to the quantum can be told by focusing on the relevant work of three great contributors to atomic physics, in the…
Between the 4th and 6th of September 2024, the Astronomy & Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick held a meeting to celebrate 21 years of astronomy at Warwick and the scientific legacy of the late Prof. Tom Marsh, the group…
I would like to thank Solar Physics colleagues for asking me to write this chapter on my professional life. My main interest has always been focused on the Sun, our star, from the heating of the corona, to the dynamics of prominences and…