A Fortunate Half-Century

Abstract

The author has had the happy opportunity to work and study in the field of theoretical astrophysics during a half-century of unparalleled observational discovery. Quasars, pulsars, large-scale cosmic structure, galaxy evolution, and many other phenomena were discovered using revolutionary new observational techniques. In the same period of time, analytical tools ranging from new disciplines like plasma physics to enormously enhanced computational facilities became available, giving theoreticians the machinery to make some sense of this new world. At the start of the era the extragalactic world was largely framed as a quasi-homogeneous Universe of static galaxies formed by unknown and in fact unexamined processes. By the end of the period there was widespread acceptance of a self-consistent, evolving cosmological model amenable to calculation and comprehension. The author was fortunate indeed to have had the chance to collaborate with many wonderfully talented colleagues during this exciting time, attempting to unravel the multiple cosmic puzzles that nature delivered to us.