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Sir Fred Hoyle
Born June 24,1915 , died August 20, 2001
British Astronomer, coined the term "Big Bang," and promoted the 747 from a junk-yard analogy.
Contents
- Basic Beliefs
- Other Notable Work
- Quotes
- Other Information
- Scientific Support for Panspermia
- Viewer Feedback
Basic Beliefs
He is noted for his rejection of the Big Bang theory. He subscribed to a Steady State cosmos. The Steady State theory proposes that it is a continuous creation of new matter that drives the expansion of the universe, rather than the universe beginning and expanding explosively in a "Big Bang." Hoyle offered no explanation for the appearance of new matter, other than postulating the existence of some sort of "creation field." Hoyle gives the age of the universe as possibly infinitely old, but at least 800 billion years old, as opposed to 13.7 billion years old for the Big Bang. The discovery of cosmic background radiation, as predicted by the Big Bang, caused most astronomers to accept the Big Bang theory. Hoyle's steady state cosmology did not account for this background radiation at the time, although he worked out an explanation for it with later work.
Ironically, he coined the the "Big Bang" as a derogatory description of the theory, but the term stuck.
Hoyle was a critic of theories of chemical evolution to explain evolution of life. He believed in panspermia, in which life evolved in space and spread through the universe by comets. It was these viruses arriving by comets that drove evolution on earth. However, he did accept evolution on Earth at some levels. In Intelligent Universe, he reasoned that large biological entities could not survive entering the atmosphere:
"There is no possibility, for example, of the eggs of birds passing safely through the atmosphere from space, so that birds must have arisen by evolution here on the Earth."
In his book Evolution from Space, he calculated that the chance of obtaining the required set of enzymes for even the simplest living cell was one in 1040,000. Since their are only 1080 atoms in the known universe, he argued that even a whole universe full of primordial soup wouldn’t have a chance. He claimed that the notion that not only the biopolymer but the operating program of a living cell could be arrived at by chance in a primordial organic soup here on the Earth is evidently nonsense of a high order.
Hoyle infamously compared the random emergence of even the simplest cell to the likelihood that "a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein." He also compared the chance of obtaining even a single functioning protein by chance combination of amino acids to a solar system full of blind men solving Rubik's Cube simultaneously.
Mainstream biologists reject Hoyle's computations as straw men – they say that he is ignorant of biology and argues from absurd assumptions no biologist holds, to arrive at those numbers. For example, Hoyle's argument depends on evolution being entirely random, entirely ignoring the non-random effect of natural selection. Thus, his calculations are based on evolution working in a manner that is contrary to how biologists believe it works, making his results meaningless.
Despite having no professional credential in paleontology, he claimed that the Archaeopteryx was a hoax and therefore did not provide evidence for a link between reptiles and birds. While whether or not Archaeopteryx represents a missing link is open to debate, few paleontologists doubt that they are genuine fossils. Their genuineness has been well documented.
He believed that the Universe was under some sort of intelligent control.
Other Notable Work
Hoyle developed Hans Bethe's suggestion that hydrogen atoms were fused into helium at the tremendous temperatures and pressures in the core of stars. Hoyle explained how when a star has almost used up its supply of hydrogen the fusion reactions instead turn helium into carbon and other elements. Later even heavier elements are formed right up to iron. At the end of a star's life these elements are blown out into space. Hoyle worked out that when very large stars explode in a supernova the elements heavier than iron are formed. So all the elements found on Earth and elsewhere in the universe have been formed in stars. See We Are Stardust
He also wrote a number of science fiction books.
Quotes
from Home Is Where the Wind Blows, pp 415-416
"I purposely don't want to make God too remote--nothing like the awesome God of the ancient Hebrews--because I don't believe that concept is right, impressive as it may be."
http://www.cedis-vpc.com/text/Space_Foreword.php
From Intelligent Universe:
"If on occasions my opposition to the Darwinian theory has seemed fierce, it is because of my feeling that a society oriented by that theory is very likely set upon a self-destruct course."
"I am not a Christian."
"There is no possibility, for example, of the eggs of birds passing safely through the atmosphere from space, so that birds must have arisen by evolution here on the Earth."
Miscellaneous
"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards."
"There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for."
Other Information
- Fred Hoyle: Interviewed by Brig Klyce, 1996
- Fred Hoyle, Cosmologist and Crank
- Fred Hoyle's The Intelligent Universe - A summary & review
- http://www.humanist.org.nz/Docs/BigBang.html
- http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i3/hoyle.asp
- http://home.wxs.nl/~gkorthof/kortho46.htm
Scientific Support for Panspermia
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