SYNTHESIS OF THE ELEMENTS IN STARS - 40 YEARS OF PROGRESS

Forty years ago Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle combined what we would now call fragmentary evidence from nuclear physics, stellar evo lution and the abundances of elements and isotopes in the solar system as well as a few stars into a synthesis of remarkable ingenuity. Thei r review provided a foundation for forty years of research in all of t he aspects of low energy nuclear experiments and theory, stellar model ing over a wide range of mass and composition, and abundance studies o f many hundreds of stars, many of which have shown distinct evidence o f the processes suggested by (BFH)-F-2. In this review we summarize pr ogress in each of these fields with emphasis on the most recent develo pments. [S0034-6861(97)00204-3].