Professor Ralph A. Alpher
Ralph A. Alpher, a distinguished research professor emeritus of physics and astronomy and a pioneering architect of the Big Bang model for the origin of the universe, died Aug. 12, 2007 in Austin, Texas. He was 86.
Alpher taught at Union College from 1986 to 2004 and was director of the Dudley Observatory. Before coming to Union, he spent more than 30 years at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Niskayuna.
As doctoral student at George Washington University, Alpher co-wrote the mathematical model for the Big Bang and published his seminal paper, “Formation of the Chemical Elements,” in the April 1, 1948 issue of Nature. The paper was based on his dissertation, which he presented at George Washington University before hundreds of people and members of the press. In that presentation, Alpher stated that the universe was formed in five minutes, a claim that was lampooned in a Washington Post editorial cartoon by Herbert L. Block, better known as Herblock.
Alpher's groundbreaking work was recognized with a number of awards including those from the American Philosophical Society, the Franklin Institute, the National Academy of Sciences and the Belgian Academy of Sciences. Last June, he received the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor for science. It honors individuals for pioneering scientific research in a range of fields, including physical, biological, mathematical, social, behavioral and engineering sciences. Unable to travel due to illness, Alpher’s son, Victor, accepted the award from President George W. Bush.
“I was very sad he couldn’t receive it himself,” said Victor, a retired clinical neuropsychologist who lives in Austin. “This was the crowning achievement of a long and distinguished career.”
In 1965, two radio astronomers in New Jersey who were tuning their equipment stumbled on proof of Alpher’s background radiation theory and were, in 1978, awarded the Nobel Prize. Many in the scientific community thought Alpher should have received the Nobel Prize.
In 2004, Lauren Gunderson, a student at Emory University doing research for her one-act play about Alpher’s life, asked Alpher if he would have done anything differently. Alpher replied, “I would have worked harder to get the credit I deserved.” Gunderson’s play, Background, had a reading at Yulman Theater with Alpher taking his own part. The experience of reliving his scientific career, he later related, was at once joyous and painful.
“He was an absolute genius in his field, but always very modest,” said Professor Rebecca Koopmann ’89, a protégé and later colleague of Alpher’s, during a recent interview with the Albany Times Union.
Alpher was an avuncular figure on campus, particularly in the physics department, where he was revered by colleagues for his scientific achievements and helpful encouragement. Most students were only vaguely aware of his iconic status. Quiet and unassuming, he did little to cultivate the celebrity many thought he deserved.
Professor Jon Marr recalls a day when Alpher, always helpful, quietly delivered a stack of copies to his astronomy class, which happened to be discussing the Big Bang theory. After Alpher left the room, Marr identified the visitor and two students exclaimed, “That’s Ralph Alpher? He helped us with our homework in a laundromat last night.”
Alpher was of often sought out for media interviews, which he grudgingly accepted, often after much convincing by the College’s media relations officer. Once the interviews were under way, however, he reveled in the experience. He and his wife, Louise, once hosted a television production crew from the Netherlands at their home for most of a week. He once allowed a CNN crew to convert his living room into a television studio. At nearly 80, Alpher spent several grueling hours posing in the Nott Memorial for photographs that would accompany an article about him in Discover magazine.
Alpher was aware of the spiritual and philosophical questions raised by his work, but left them for others to ponder. Asked by a third grader who was preparing a science fair project on the Big Bang about what existed before the cataclysmic event, Alpher replied, “I have no idea.” During an interview in which he described a pre-Big Bang nothingness, he paused to quip, “Now, wouldn’t that give the theologians a start?”
Alpher’s wife, the former Louise Simons, died in 2004. In addition to his son, Alpher is survived by a daughter, Harriet Lebetkin, of Danbury, Conn. and two granddaughters.
Memorial contributions can be made to the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology of the American Museum of Natural History (www.amnh.org), the National Science and Technology Medals Foundation (www.nationalmedals.org) or the American Institute of Physics Education Division to support science fellowships and grants at the undergraduate and graduate level (www.aip.org).