We are made of star-stuff - the B2FH paper. First edition, journal issue, of one of the most revolutionary papers in modern science, presenting conclusive proof that the heavy elements which make life possible are created in the stars and distributed throughout the universe by supernovae. Lead author Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) was to become a 'towering figure in the history of modern physics and astronomy... a key driver of three great revolutionary thrusts in the development of physics and astronomy over the last 70 years' (University of California obituary). A fresh, attractive copy in the original wrappers.

By the early 1950s it was clear that the lighter elements, hydrogen, helium, and lithium, were created during the Big Bang, but there were two competing theories on the origin of the heavier elements. Physicist George Gamow believed that they were all made at the origin of the universe, but in 1954 astronomer Fred Hoyle proposed that they were instead created by the process of nuclear fusion in stars. British astronomer Margaret Burbidge was at the time working at Caltech, and she and her husband Geoffrey collaborated with Hoyle and William Fowler to investigate the hypothesis.

'Over a two-year period, 1955-56, the Burbidges and Fowler then gathered a wealth of evidence in support of Hoyle's theory. These included astronomical observations taken by Margaret of the elemental abundances, and the laboratory measurements of nuclear reactions gathered by Fowler. The results were conclusive. The paper changed our understanding of cosmic evolution, and of our connection to the vast universe. As Fowler put it: "All of us are truly and literally a little bit of stardust"', a sentiment famously echoed by Carl Sagan in 1973 (Guardian obituary, April 22, 2020).

The present paper, usually referred to as 'B2FH' for its three authors, 'was undoubtedly the Burbidges' greatest scientific achievement, with far-reaching consequences for astrophysics and cosmology' (Royal Society obituary, August 25, 2021) and 'it also brokered the deep relationship between observational astronomy and nuclear physics' (University of California obituary). Burbidge and her husband went on to become leaders in the physics of quasars, and she also pioneered the use of space-based astronomical instruments, most notably the Hubble Space Telescope's Faint Objects Spectrograph.

First edition, journal issue; tall quarto; 4 pages of illustrations from photographs, contents fresh; original orange wrappers printed in black, neat area of loss from the top corner of the upper wrapper, lower edge of upper wrapper slightly faded, spine a little rolled, wrappers lightly rubbed, very good condition.