Fred Hoyle was one of the twentieth century's most creative and controversial scientists. He is most widely remembered as a populariser of science and as the man who coined the phrase 'big bang'. His most scientifically significant work was in the field of stellar nucleosynthesis, the production of chemical elements inside stars. He was also a science fiction author and a keen mountain climber.

Hoyle was a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1939 until 1972. After his death his family donated his library, personal papers, and some personal effects to St John's College Library. This exhibition brings together some of the highlights from the Hoyle Collection and through them tells the story of Hoyle's life and work.

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_c...yle/exhibition/

Actually, I believe Hoyle originally used the phrase 'big bang' to undermine this view of the origin of the universe (err...yeah, well, that worked a treat!), because he believed in a 'steady state' account of the universe - that it had always existed.