Wolfgang Priester: from the big bounce to the Lambda-dominated universe

Abstract

Wolfgang Priester was one of Germany's most versatile and quixotic astrophysicists, re-inventing himself successively as a radio astronomer, space physicist and cosmologist, and making a lasting impact on each field. We focus in this personal account on his contributions to cosmology, where he will be most remembered for his association with quasars, his promotion of the idea of a nonsingular "big bounce" at the beginning of the current expansionary phase, and his recognition of the importance of dark energy (Einstein's cosmological constant Lambda) well before this became the standard paradigm in cosmology.

arXiv comment12 pages, 7 figures, optimized for A4 paper. Partly biographical, partly historical review of subjects to which Priester contributed (quasars, nonsingular cosmology, dark energy). Preprint version only; published version to appear in Naturwissenschaften

References in corpus (11)

• Cosmological Imprint of an Energy Component with General Equation of State
• Cosmology and the Fate of Dilatation Symmetry
• The Cosmological Constant
• The Pre-Big Bang Scenario in String Cosmology
• The Lyman Alpha Forest in the Spectra of QSOs
• The Cosmological Constant is Back
• The physical properties of the Ly-Alpha forest at z > 1.5
• How dominant is the vacuum?
• The Early Universe in Loop Quantum Cosmology
• Structure in a Loitering Universe
• Incompatibility of a comoving Ly-alpha forest with supernova-Ia luminosity distances

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Cosmology with Bounce by Flat Space-Time Theory of Gravitation and a New Interpretation
• Preludes to dark energy: Zero-point energy and vacuum speculations