Eur. Phys. J. H 35, 89-109 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2010-00006-9

The origins and abundances of the chemical elements before 1957: from Prout’s hypothesis to Pasadena

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-4575, USA
Las Cumbres Observatory, Goleta, California, USA

^a e-mail: vtrimble@uci.edu

Received: 18 February 2010
Published online: 23 July 2010

Abstract

The 1957 papers by Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle and by Cameron are generally regarded as the foundations upon which our modern understanding of nucleosynthesis has been erected. They were, however, also the capstones of an extended period of investigation of the composition of the cosmos (earth, sun, and beyond) and of the processes that might have given rise to that composition, dating back at least as far as 1885, that is longer before 1957 than “now” is after 1957.