Spring 2009

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.