Fowler, William

William Fowler, in full William Alfred Fowler, (born August 9, 1911, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died March 14, 1995, Pasadena, California), American nuclear astrophysicist who, with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983 for his role in formulating a widely accepted theory of element generation.

Fowler studied at the Ohio State University (B.S., 1933) and at the California Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1936), where he became an assistant professor in 1939 and a full professor in 1946. His theory of element generation, which he developed with Sir Fred Hoyle, Margaret Burbidge, and Geoffrey Burbidge in the 1950s, suggests that in stellar evolution elements are synthesized progressively from light elements to heavy ones, in nuclear reactions that also produce light and heat. With the collapse of more massive stars, the explosive rebound known as supernova occurs; according to theory, this phase makes possible the synthesis of the heaviest elements.

Fowler also worked in radio astronomy, proposing with Hoyle that the cores of radio galaxies are collapsed “superstars” emitting strong radio waves and that quasars are larger versions of these collapsed superstars.

Fowler received the National Medal of Science (1974) and the Legion of Honour (1989).