Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper

The Alpher - Bethe- Gamow theory ( " αβγ - theory " ) is the first theory of element formation in the early universe. It was published by Ralph Alpher and George Gamow in 1948. The supervisor of the Gamow former doctoral students Alpher allowed himself a joke and called the name of actually uninvolved Hans Bethe on the basis of the Greek alphabet as co-author.

The theory describes the origin of the elements from a hot proton and neutron gas whose density and temperature by the expansion of the universe as far as drops that the nucleons can coalesce into stable nuclei. The Alpher - Bethe- Gamow theory therefore forms the basis of today's theory of primordial nucleosynthesis.

While Alpher and Gamow postulated the formation of all elements of the Big Bang, we now know that only the nuclei of the heavy isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium ) and of helium, lithium and beryllium in the early universe may have arisen; all heavier elements were produced later in stars and supernovae. The relative abundances of hydrogen and helium isotopes are but correctly predicted by Alpher and Gamow already.