Raditations Magazine

Features

Congress Sets Priorities

Karen Williams receives Seagondollar Award

New Honorary Members Received
by Thomas Olsen

Student Perspectives
by SPS student reporters

The History of Cosmology as I Have Lived Through It
(Part 3 of the biography of Ralph A. Alpher)
by Victor S. Alpher | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Departments

The Director's Corner
When 2+2 Doesn't Equal 4, ... Sort of
by Gary D. White

Elegant Connections in Physics
History of Big Bang Cosmology, Part 4: The Expanding Universe, Ylem, and the CMBR
by Dwight E. Neuenschwander

Sigma Pi Sigma Donors

Spotlight on “Hidden Physicists”

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Editor, Radiations Magazine
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Spring 2009

On the Cover | Larger Image
Ralph A. Alpher (1921-2007) was a founder of Big Bang cosmology. His 1948 dissertation on primordial element abundances by neutron capture laid the foundation for modern big bang nucleosynthesis calculations, and led also in 1948 to the prediction by Alpher and Robert Herman of the existence and present temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the crucial signature of a universe that began as a “big bang.” He was also a Sigma Pi Sigma member, being inducted at The George Washington University in 1941.

We are privileged to publish here Part 3 of his biography, written by his son Dr. Victor Alpher.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Photos courtesy of Victor S. Alpher.

Editor
Dwight E. Neuenschwander,
Southern Nazarene University

Art Director
Phillip Payette

Editorial Assistants
Tracy M. Schwab
Kendra Rand

Sigma Pi Sigma President
Ann Viano, Rhodes College

SPS President
Toni Sauncy, Angelo State University

Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS Director
Gary D. White

Sigma Pi Sigma/SPS Assistant Director
Thomas Olsen

Radiations is the official publication of Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society.