GOLD, THOMAS

born May 22, 1920, Vienna, Austria Austrian-born British astronomer who promulgated the steady-state theory of the universe, holding that, although the universe is expanding, a continuous creation of matter in intergalactic space is gradually forming new galaxies, so that the average number of galaxies in any part of the universe remains approximately the same. Gold studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1942; M.Sc., 1946), and during World War II served in the British Admiralty. Elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1947, Gold became university demonstrator in physics in 1949 at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. During the late 1940s, in collaboration with Hermann Bondi and Fred Hoyle, he formulated the steady-state theory, of which Hoyle became the leading proponent. In 1952 Gold joined the staff of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, London. Five years later he became professor of astronomy at Harvard University. There he worked on the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) amplifier for use with radio telescopes. In 1959 he joined the faculty of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., as professor of astronomy. He served as director of the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research from 1959 to 1981. An early supporter of space exploration, Gold contributed significant theories and conjectures on the structure of the Moon, on the effect of solar flares and storms on the Earth's atmosphere, and on the origin of the solar system and of life.