The origins of nuclear astrophysics at Caltech

Shortly before the start of World War II, several theoretical physicists, including Hans Bethe and Carl von Weizsacker, advanced the idea that the sun derives it energy from nuclear reactions within its core. C. C. Lauritsen and William Fowler, nuclear physicists at Caltech's Kellogg Laboratory, were among the first experimentalists to appreciate the application of nuclear physics to stellar interiors. Post-war strategies for studying nuclear processes in the stars included an innovative series of unofficial, weekly seminars with Mt. Wilson astronomers at director Ira Bowen's house, the testing of Bethe's carbon cycle in Kellogg, and the collaboration with a diverse group of scientists ranging from cosmologist Fred Hoyle to astronomers Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge. The events leading up to the publication of the 1957 paper by Fowler, Hoyle, Burbidge, and Burbidge, in The Reviews of Modern Physics, now regarded as a watershed in the history of nuclear astrophysics, are discussed. For his work in low-energy nuclear astrophysics, Fowler won the 1983 Nobel Prize in physics

Ermakov-Lewis Invariants and Reid Systems

Reid's m'th-order generalized Ermakov systems of nonlinear coupling constant alpha are equivalent to an integrable Emden-Fowler equation. The standard Ermakov-Lewis invariant is discussed from this perspective, and a closed formula for the invariant is obtained for the higher-order Reid systems (m\geq 3). We also discuss the parametric solutions of these systems of equations through the integration of the Emden-Fowler equation and present an example of a dynamical system for which the invariant is equivalent to the total energyComment: 8 pages, published versio

Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society

Reviewed Book: Peters, Ted. Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Fowler Wright Bks, 1994

[Book Review] Alaistair Fowler, <i>The Mind of the Book: Pictorial Title Pages</i>

A review of Fowler, Alastair, The Mind of the Book: Pictorial Title Pages (Oxford: OUP, 2017), ISBN 978-0-0190871766-9