This is my header
Into the Public Eye
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
The family moved first from Funtingdon to Quendon and then in early 1947 to Ivy Lodge Great Abington, which remained their home for ten years. In a Singer Junior with two seats and a dicky children, chickens and geese were transported over snowy roads to their new home, 8 miles south of Cambridge. The family settled in with the music of Beethoven roaring above crackling fires which heated the house.
With Quendon some 22 miles from Cambridge, Hoyle often stayed during the week with Herman Bondi in town. Long discussions ranged over all manner of subjects, noticeably cosmology.
The ideas generated from his trip to the US, in 1945, flowed into 1946 and Hoyle’s seminal paper ‘The Synthesis of Elements from Hydrogen’ accompanied by a short paper ‘Note on the Origin of Cosmic Rays’.
With ideas developing on the formation of the universe, Bondi, Gold and Hoyle worked on the theory of a Steady State Universe, but their thoughts differed over evolutionary cosmologies. Bondi and Gold’s paper, ‘The Steady-State Theory of the Expanding Universe’ was published first in 1948 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, while Hoyle’s paper ‘A New Model of the Expanding Universe’ was rejected by the Proceedings of the Physical Society due to lack of paper.
With Quendon some 22 miles from Cambridge, Hoyle often stayed during the week with Herman Bondi in town. Long discussions ranged over all manner of subjects, noticeably cosmology.
The ideas generated from his trip to the US, in 1945, flowed into 1946 and Hoyle’s seminal paper ‘The Synthesis of Elements from Hydrogen’ accompanied by a short paper ‘Note on the Origin of Cosmic Rays’.
With ideas developing on the formation of the universe, Bondi, Gold and Hoyle worked on the theory of a Steady State Universe, but their thoughts differed over evolutionary cosmologies. Bondi and Gold’s paper, ‘The Steady-State Theory of the Expanding Universe’ was published first in 1948 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, while Hoyle’s paper ‘A New Model of the Expanding Universe’ was rejected by the Proceedings of the Physical Society due to lack of paper.
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
1948 being the year of Solar maximum, the BBC asked Hoyle to produce two talks on sunspots. Recorded on New Year’s Eve they were broadcast on 8 January 1949. Hoyle felt these had not gone well
A subsequent broadcast on 28 March 1949 on ‘continuous creation’ caused an uproar in the academic world. To create a picture in the mind of the listener, Hoyle had likened the explosive theory of the Universe's origin to a Big Bang. Incensed listeners complained to the BBC. The then Astronomer Royal, Sir Harold Spencer Jones wrote ‘I do not find anything to object to in his broadcast’ arguing that everyone has a right to an opinion.
These talks on the Third Programme brought Hoyle into more intimate contact with Peter Laslett, a research fellow of history at St John’s College and radio producer for the BBC. When a fellow historian pulled out of a series of talks at the last minute, Laslett approached Hoyle to step in.
Hoyle recalls: ‘There was no rehearsal. It took about four days to write the scripts for each of the talks, which originally lasted 40 minutes. They were carefully written but quickly written, to give information to the man in the street’.
With Laslett’s guidance Hoyle developed a discipline and skill in explaining complex problems to the layman which served him well throughout his life.
A subsequent broadcast on 28 March 1949 on ‘continuous creation’ caused an uproar in the academic world. To create a picture in the mind of the listener, Hoyle had likened the explosive theory of the Universe's origin to a Big Bang. Incensed listeners complained to the BBC. The then Astronomer Royal, Sir Harold Spencer Jones wrote ‘I do not find anything to object to in his broadcast’ arguing that everyone has a right to an opinion.
These talks on the Third Programme brought Hoyle into more intimate contact with Peter Laslett, a research fellow of history at St John’s College and radio producer for the BBC. When a fellow historian pulled out of a series of talks at the last minute, Laslett approached Hoyle to step in.
Hoyle recalls: ‘There was no rehearsal. It took about four days to write the scripts for each of the talks, which originally lasted 40 minutes. They were carefully written but quickly written, to give information to the man in the street’.
With Laslett’s guidance Hoyle developed a discipline and skill in explaining complex problems to the layman which served him well throughout his life.
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
The Nature of the Universe talks were unique on a number of counts: Hoyle’s Yorkshire accent, homely and familiar descriptive style coupled with scientific ideas revolutionary for 1950 provided a challenge to authority in science and religion in a country still subject to rationing.
In the final talk on ‘Man’s Place in the Expanding Universe’ Hoyle again used the term Big Bang to illustrate the explosive theory of the Universe's origin.
As a result of the success of the talks Hoyle became the BBC’s broadcaster of the year. His talks were published both in the Listener and a successful bestselling book. Correspondence arising from the talks led to a number of contacts and, in particular, a lifelong friendship with J B Priestley.
His public prominence was later set in stone in the foyer at the National Gallery in London, where he is portrayed in the mosaic floor, designed by Russian, Boris Anrep and completed in 1952, as a steeplejack climbing to the stars.
Hoyle continued with his full teaching schedule, although his students were sometimes unsure as to whether they would get their tutorials. Yet top mathematical students were keen to join in this explosion of new thinking and to work on various aspects of Hoyle’s ideas.
While Hoyle had gained popularity with the public, his relationship with the academic establishment was difficult and he spent much of his time defending his ideas. As a result, he had no scientific papers published in the period 1950-1952, although he lectured, wrote papers and books. One particularly difficult rivalry with Martin Ryle was first exposed publicly at the Massey Conference at University College London in 1951. Hoyle had had difficulties getting his work accepted before becoming a public figure, but now experienced an even greater censure.
In the final talk on ‘Man’s Place in the Expanding Universe’ Hoyle again used the term Big Bang to illustrate the explosive theory of the Universe's origin.
As a result of the success of the talks Hoyle became the BBC’s broadcaster of the year. His talks were published both in the Listener and a successful bestselling book. Correspondence arising from the talks led to a number of contacts and, in particular, a lifelong friendship with J B Priestley.
His public prominence was later set in stone in the foyer at the National Gallery in London, where he is portrayed in the mosaic floor, designed by Russian, Boris Anrep and completed in 1952, as a steeplejack climbing to the stars.
Hoyle continued with his full teaching schedule, although his students were sometimes unsure as to whether they would get their tutorials. Yet top mathematical students were keen to join in this explosion of new thinking and to work on various aspects of Hoyle’s ideas.
While Hoyle had gained popularity with the public, his relationship with the academic establishment was difficult and he spent much of his time defending his ideas. As a result, he had no scientific papers published in the period 1950-1952, although he lectured, wrote papers and books. One particularly difficult rivalry with Martin Ryle was first exposed publicly at the Massey Conference at University College London in 1951. Hoyle had had difficulties getting his work accepted before becoming a public figure, but now experienced an even greater censure.
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
In late 1951 the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) invited Hoyle to be a Visiting Professor of Astrophysics in the spring of 1953, with a further invitation from Princeton to visit for two months afterwards. This opportunity offered Hoyle a lifeline to relaunch his academic career.
On the eve of Hoyle’s departure for the USA, son Geoffrey was allowed to stay up in front of the fire in the living room of Ivy Lodge listening to his father play Beethoven’s ‘For Elise’ on the grand piano. Rarely was Hoyle remembered playing the piano.
On the night of 8 December 1952 Hoyle flew from Bournemouth Hurn airport via Shannon and Gander to New York, then by train to Princeton, where his hosts were Martin Schwarzchild and his wife Barbara. Amidst the conversations on astronomy and cosmology was the need to acquire a car for the journey to Los Angeles. Hoyle found a car, but there were difficulties in obtaining a driving licence and insurance, as well as the delayed receipt of funds from the American publishers of ‘The Nature of the Universe’.
On visits to New York Hoyle met with George Jones of his publisher Harper and Row and also Ruth Nanda Ashen, philosopher, author and editor, with whom he published books such as ‘Man and Materialism’ and ‘A Decade of Decision’.
On the eve of Hoyle’s departure for the USA, son Geoffrey was allowed to stay up in front of the fire in the living room of Ivy Lodge listening to his father play Beethoven’s ‘For Elise’ on the grand piano. Rarely was Hoyle remembered playing the piano.
On the night of 8 December 1952 Hoyle flew from Bournemouth Hurn airport via Shannon and Gander to New York, then by train to Princeton, where his hosts were Martin Schwarzchild and his wife Barbara. Amidst the conversations on astronomy and cosmology was the need to acquire a car for the journey to Los Angeles. Hoyle found a car, but there were difficulties in obtaining a driving licence and insurance, as well as the delayed receipt of funds from the American publishers of ‘The Nature of the Universe’.
On visits to New York Hoyle met with George Jones of his publisher Harper and Row and also Ruth Nanda Ashen, philosopher, author and editor, with whom he published books such as ‘Man and Materialism’ and ‘A Decade of Decision’.
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Through a contact of Mrs. Schwarzchild’s in Trenton, Hoyle acquired a driving licence at short notice, passed a written test and insured the car ready for his trip from the East coast to the West Coast.
Hoyle left Princeton on 15 December 1952 in his newly acquired Chevrolet on a journey which would take him 12 days to Pasadena and Caltech. Along the way he had a couple of minor problems with the car and in Amarillo in thick mist turned east instead of west along route 66 for 80 miles. He travelled through Baltimore, Frederick, Winchester, Front Royal, Shenandoah National Park, Abingdon, Jefferson City, Bristo, Knockville, Chattanooga, Tuscaloosa, El Dorado, Amarillo, Tucumari, Santa Rosa, Albuqueque, Flagstaff and Navajo Bridge before spending Christmas night at the Phantom Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Playing cards Hoyle won enough to buy a new pair of shoes, having destroyed his old ones on the walk down to the ranch. After a further night at Barstow Hoyle arrived in the Los Angeles area and drove through the orange groves to Pasadena.
Hoyle left Princeton on 15 December 1952 in his newly acquired Chevrolet on a journey which would take him 12 days to Pasadena and Caltech. Along the way he had a couple of minor problems with the car and in Amarillo in thick mist turned east instead of west along route 66 for 80 miles. He travelled through Baltimore, Frederick, Winchester, Front Royal, Shenandoah National Park, Abingdon, Jefferson City, Bristo, Knockville, Chattanooga, Tuscaloosa, El Dorado, Amarillo, Tucumari, Santa Rosa, Albuqueque, Flagstaff and Navajo Bridge before spending Christmas night at the Phantom Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Playing cards Hoyle won enough to buy a new pair of shoes, having destroyed his old ones on the walk down to the ranch. After a further night at Barstow Hoyle arrived in the Los Angeles area and drove through the orange groves to Pasadena.
With Kind Permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Hoyle’s first engagement on arrival in Pasadena was to give a talk on ‘The Expanding Universe’ at an American Institute of Physics meeting. After a well-received lecture in the packed auditorium of Pasadena Junior College Hoyle was invited to a party at the home of Willy Fowler. And so began two decades of collaboration and deep friendship.