Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper

Background

The paper was created by Ralph Alpher, then a physics PhD student, his advisor George Gamow, and Hans Bethe. Gamow humorously added Bethe's name to create the author list Alpher, Bethe, Gamow—a play on the Greek letters α, β, and γ (alpha, beta, gamma). Bethe was listed as 'H. Bethe, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.' In his 1952 book The Creation of the Universe, Gamow explained Bethe's association with the theory. After this, Bethe did work on Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

Alpher, at the time only a graduate student, was generally dismayed by the inclusion of Bethe's name. He felt it would overshadow his personal contribution and prevent him from receiving proper recognition. He expressed resentment over Gamow's whimsy as late as 1999.

The original theory proposed that all atomic nuclei are produced by successive capture of neutrons, one mass unit at a time. However, later study challenged this: no element was found to have a stable isotope with atomic mass five or eight. These mass gaps hindered production of elements beyond helium, meaning the successive-capture theory could not account for higher elements.