Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics: A 50-Year Perspective on Personalities, Progress, and Prospects

Abstract

In the 1960s, novel and increasingly powerful observational techniques opened up the field of high-energy astrophysics. Cosmology started to become an empirical science, and there was a resurgence in the study of general relativity. Martin Rees became a graduate student at the University of Cambridge during that period and subsequently held postdoc positions in the United States. He was therefore fortunate to have a close-up perspective on some of these developments and to interact with many senior figures who were spearheading these advances. He himself became a phenomenologist, contributing his own ideas to several topics in these fields and working with many collaborators. This article offers an assessment of some key subsequent developments and personal perspectives from a diverse career spanning more than 50 years.