Ralph Asher Alpher (February 3, 1921 – August 12, 2007)[1] was a U.S. cosmologist.

Childhood and education

Alpher was the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, Samuel Alpher, from Vitebsk, Russia. His mother, Rose, died of stomach cancer in 1938 and his father later remarried. Ralph graduated at age 15 from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C., and was Major and Commander of his school's Cadet program. He worked in the high school theater as stage manager for two years, supplementing his family's Depression-era income. He also learned Gregg Shorthand, and in 1937 began working for the Director of the American Geophysical Union as a stenographer. In 1940 he finally ended up at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Foundation, where he was working with Dr. Scott Forbush. They both were working for the U.S. Navy on contract to develop ship degaussing techniques, evaluation, and related research for the first 3 years of WWII. He contributed to the development of the Mark 32 and Mark 45 detonators, torpedoes, Naval gun control, and other top-secret ordnance work and he was recognized at the end of the War with the Naval Ordnance Development Award (December 10, 1945—with Symbol). Perhaps because of the highly classified nature of his work for the U.S. Navy and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Alpher's war time work has been somewhat obscured. From 1944 through 1955 he was employed at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. During the daytime he was involved in the development of ballistic missiles, guidance systems, and related subjects, in 1948 he earned his Ph.D. in Physics with a theory of Nucleosynthesis called neutron-capture, and from 1948 onward collaborated with Dr. Robert C. Herman, also at APL, on predictions of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Alpher was somewhat ambivalent about the nature of this work.[2]

At age 16, he was offered a full scholarship to MIT, but it was withdrawn after a mandatory meeting with an MIT alumnus in Washington, D.C., with ambiguous explanation or clarification.[3] Instead, he earned his bachelor's degree and advanced graduate degrees in physics from George Washington University, all the while working as a physicist on contract to the Navy, and eventually for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He met eminent Russian physicist George Gamow at the University, who subsequently took him on as his doctoral student. This was somewhat of a coup, as Gamow was an eminent Soviet defector and one of the luminaries on the GWU faculty. It is apparent that Alpher provided much needed mathematical ability to support Gamow's theorizing.

While attending GWU Alpher met Louise, who was majoring in psychology at night school and working as a day secretary with the State Department. A month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Alpher and Louise were married.

Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory (Alpha-Beta-Gamma)

Alpher's dissertation in 1948 dealt with a subject that came to be known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The Big Bang is a term coined initially in derision by Fred Hoyle on BBC Radio in 1950 to describe the cosmological model of the universe as expanding into its current state from a primordial condition of enormous density and temperature. Nucleosynthesis is the explanation of how more complex elements are created out of simple elements in the moments following the Big Bang. Right after the Big Bang, when the temperature was extremely high, if any nuclear particles such as neutrons and protons, became bound together (being held together by the attractive nuclear force) they would be immediately broken apart by the high energy photons (quanta of light) present in high density. In other words, at this extremely high temperature, the photons' kinetic energy would overwhelm the binding energy of the strong nuclear force. For example, if a proton and a neutron became bound together (forming deuterium), it would be immediately broken apart by a high energy photon. However, as time progressed, the universe expanded and cooled and the average energy of the photons decreased. At some point, roughly one second after the Big Bang, the attractive force of nuclear attraction would begin to win out over the lower energy photons and neutrons and protons would begin to form stable deuterium nuclei. As the universe continued to expand and cool, additional nuclear particles would bind with these light nuclei, building up heavier elements such as helium, etc. Alpher argued that the Big Bang would create hydrogen, helium and heavier elements in the correct proportions to explain their abundance in the early universe. Alpher and Gamow's theory originally proposed that all atomic nuclei are produced by the successive capture of neutrons, one mass unit at a time. However, later study challenged the universality of the successive capture theory since no element was found to have a stable isotope with an atomic mass of five or eight, hindering the production of elements beyond helium.[4]

Since this dissertation was (correctly) perceived to be ground-breaking, over 300 people attended the dissertation defense, including the Press, and articles about his predictions and a Herblock cartoon appeared in major newspapers. This was quite unusual for a doctoral dissertation. Later the same year, collaborating with Dr. Robert Herman, Alpher predicted the temperature of the residual radiation (known as cosmic background radiation) resulting from the hypothesized Big Bang[5]. However, Alpher's predictions concerning the comsic background radiation were more or less forgotten and they were rediscovered by Robert Dicke and Yakov Zel'dovich in the early 1960s. The existence of the cosmic background radiation and its temperature were measured experimentally in 1964 by two physicists working for Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for this work in 1978. Although his name appears on the paper, Hans Bethe had virtually no part in the development of the theory, although he later worked on related topics; George Gamow added his name to make the seminal paper's title a pun on "Alpha-Beta-Gamma" (α,β,γ), the first three letters of the Greek alphabet.[6] Thus, Alpher's independent dissertation was first published on April 1, 1948 in the Physical Review with three authors.[7] The humor engendered by the prodigious Gamow may at times have obscured the critical role Alpher played in developing the theory. Other scientists who read the paper may have assumed (erroneously) that Gamow and Bethe had been the primary contributors. Traditionally, dissertation advisors appear as second authors on dissertation publications.

Alpher and Robert Herman were later awarded the Henry Draper Medal in 1993. They were also awarded the Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society in 1975, the Georges Vanderlinden Physics prize of the Belgian Academy of Sciences, as well as significant awards of the New York Academy of Sciences and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia — in other words, nearly every significant professional recognition saving the Nobel Prize. Two Nobel Prizes in physics have been awarded for empirical work related to the cosmic background radiation — in 1978 to Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson and in 2006 to John Mather and George Smoot. Alpher and Herman (the latter, posthumously) published their own account of their work in cosmology in 2001, Genesis of the Big Bang (Oxford University Press). Alpher's seminal work was finally recognized in 2005 when he was awarded the National Medal of Science (the Nation's highest scientific honor). The citation for the award reads "For his unprecedented work in the areas of nucleosynthesis, for the prediction that universe expansion leaves behind background radiation, and for providing the model for the Big Bang theory." The medal was presented to his son Dr. Victor S. Alpher on July 27, 2007 by President George W. Bush, as his father could not travel to receive the award. Ralph Alpher died following an extended illness on August 12, 2007. He had been in failing health since falling and breaking his hip in February 2007.

The rest of Alpher's career

In 1955 Alpher moved to a position with the General Electric Company's Research and Development Center. His primary role in his early years at G.E. was working on problems of vehicle re-entry from space (e.g. missile re-entry). He also continued to collaborate with Robert Herman, who had moved to the General Motors Research Laboratory, on problems in cosmology. The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation was finally confirmed in 1964, although in retrospect many other astronomers and radio astronomers probably observed it. Robert Penzias and Robert Wilson, who fell upon the CMBR in 1964, won the Nobel Prize in Phyics in 1977. Alpher and Herman received numerous major Physics awards from 1975 (American Philosophical Society Magellanic Premium) through 1993 (Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Science). Alpher was awarded the National Medal of Science (2005) for his pioneering work in nucleosynthesis and the CMBR prediction..

From 1987 to 2004 he served as Distinguished Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Union College of Union University in Schenectady, New York, during which time he was able to return to research and teaching. During all this time he continued to publish major peer-reviewed scientific papers and was active in community service for Public Broadcasting. Alpher was also (1987-2004) Director of The Dudley Observatory.

In 1986 he was recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Achievement Award of the George Washington University. His academic achievements were all the more remarkable since all of his degrees were achieved at night whilst working for the Navy and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory during the daytime. In 2004 he joined the Emeritus faculty at Union and was Emeritus Director of Dudley. He also received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Union College and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. From 2005 until his passing, he remained Emeritus Director of the Dudley Observatory and Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Union College, Schenectady,

Alpher's approach to science

Alpher told Joseph D'Agnese in his interview for Discover Magazine, There are two reasons you do science. One is the altruistic feeling that maybe you can contribute to mankind's store of knowledge about the world. The other and more personal thing is you want the approbation of your peers. Pure and simple.[8]

See also

* Nobel prize controversies
* List of Jewish American physicists
* cosmic microwave background radiation
* Big Bang
* Robert Herman
* George Gamow
* Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper

References

1. ^ Obituary in the Albany (NY) Times-Union
2. ^ source: Dr. Victor S. Alpher
3. ^ personal communication from Dr. Victor S. Alpher. Apparently Alpher himself believed that the scholarship was withdrawn due to the anti-Semitism widely prevalent in American academic institutions at the time. In the article he published in Discover magazine (see D'Agnese), Joseph D'Agnese writes But there's a catch. MIT says the scholarship is good only if Alpher attends full-time and does not work. This is the Great Depression. Alpher's immigrant father is a home builder in Washington, D.C., at a time when no one can afford to buy a house. Alpher doesn't even have train fare to Boston. How can he go to school if he can't work part-time for books and meals? The letter tells him to meet with an alumnus in Washington. He talks to the alum for hours, hoping to find a way to make this work. But the guy keeps turning the conversation back to the same subject—religion—and asks Alpher about his religious beliefs. "I told him I was Jewish," Alpher says. Soon after, a second letter comes. The scholarship is withdrawn, without explanation. "My brother had told me not to get my hopes up," Alpher says, "and he was damn right. It was a searing experience. He said it was unrealistic to think that a Jew could go anywhere back then. I don't know if you know what it was like for Jews before World War II. It was terrible." Later on, he was discouraged from majoring in Chemistry at GWU for similar reasons.
4. ^ It was eventually recognized that most of the heavy elements observed in the present universe are the result of stellar nucleosynthesis in stars, a theory largely developed by Hans Bethe, William Fowler and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
5. ^ G. Gamow, "The Origin of Elements and the Separation of Galaxies," Physical Review 74 (1948), 505. G. Gamow, "The evolution of the universe", Nature 162 (1948), 680. R. A. Alpher and R. Herman, "On the Relative Abundance of the Elements," Physical Review 74 (1948), 1577. Alpher and Herman first estimated the temperature of the cosmic microwave background as 50 K, and two years later they re-estimated it as 280 K.
6. ^ Gamow joked that "There was, however, a rumor that later, when the alpha, beta, gamma theory went temporarily on the rocks, Dr. Bethe seriously considered changing his name to Zacharias". When referring to Robert Herman he wrote: "R. C. Herman, who stubbornly refuses to change his name to Delter"
7. ^ Alpher, R. A., H. Bethe and G. Gamow. “The Origin of Chemical Elements,” Physical Review, 73 (1948), 803.
8. ^ D'Agnese, Joseph. The Last Big Bang Man Left Standing. Discover Magazine: NY. July 1999 pp 61-67

Links

• "On the Origin and Relative Abundance of the Elements," Doctoral Dissertation, George Washington University, May, 1948.
• Newspaper review of Big Bang book citing Alpher as major contributor to Big Bang theory
• Article about Alpher's life in a 1999 Discover magazine.
• Obituary in the Washington Post
• Obituary in the Albany (NY) Times-Union
• Obituary in the (London/UK) Daily Telegraph
• Discussion of Alpher's role
• Additional discussion of Alpher's role
• [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1978/penzias-lecture.pdf ArnoPenzia's 1978 Nobel prize lecture
• (http://www.ralphalpher.com has links to three articles in the American Institute of Physics Journal Radiations, published in 2008 and 2009, by his son Victor S. Alpher, Ph.D., which include many details of his career during WWII and thereafter in ordnance development, as well as his career in cosmology and astrophysics.