B2FH, the Cosmic Microwave Background and Cosmology*

In this talk I shall start by describing how we set about and carried out the work that led to the publication of Burbidge et al. (1957, hereafter B²FH). I then shall try and relate this work and the circumstances that surrounded it to the larger problem of the origin and formation of the universe. Here it is necessary to look back at the way that ideas developed and how, in many situations, astronomers went astray. Of course this is a personal view, though I very strongly believe that if he were still here, it is the approach that Fred Hoyle would take. I start by describing the problems originally encountered by Gamow and his associates in trying to decide where the helium was made. This leads me to a modern discussion of the origin of ²D, ³He, ⁴He and ⁷Li, originally described by B²FH as due to the x-process. While it is generally argued, following Gamow, Alpher, and Herman, that these isotopes were synthesised in a big bang I shall show that it is equally likely that these isotopes were made in active galactic nuclei, as was the cosmic microwave background (CMB), in a cyclic universe model. The key piece of observational evidence is that the amount of energy released in the conversion of hydrogen to helium in the universe is very close to the energy carried by the CMB, namely ~4.5 × 10^-13 erg cm^-3.