A man who devoted his life to exploring extraordinary questions, British astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) was born in Bingley, Yorkshire. Fascinated by the cosmos from a young age, he went on to study mathematics at Cambridge University.

Hoyle once reflected, “Once a photograph of the Earth taken from the outside is available, a new idea as powerful as any in history will be set loose.”

He famously coined the term “big bang” (which he personally rejected) while proposing his own “steady state” theory—that the universe had no beginning or end but continuously created new matter.

“There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don’t know what it’s a plan for,” he once said. Hoyle believed the origin of life was cosmic rather than terrestrial.

He inspired generations, including Stephen Hawking, and his radio talks in the 1950s paved the way for Carl Sagan’s cosmic storytelling. As a prolific writer of science fiction, his 1957 novel The Black Cloud envisioned artificial intelligence and remains a classic.

“It is the true nature of mankind to learn from mistakes, not from example,” he wrote—always urging humanity to look further and remain endlessly curious. For Hoyle, wonder was not an escape from reality, but a discipline—a way of seeing the universe not just as it is, but as it might yet become.

Possibilities.