Cataclysmic variables as binary stars: Then and now

Abstract

A brief history is given of the clues that led to the establishment, in the period c. 1950 to 1965, of a universal binary model for novae and related cataclysmic variables. The observational facts, established early in this period by A. H. Joy and R. F. Sanford (selected binary orbits), J. L. Greenstein (spectroscopy) and M. Walker (photometry) are reviewed, as are the theoretical ideas that formed the basis for the early models, viz., those of G. Kuiper (restricted 3-body problem), A. Sandage and M. Schwarzschild (stellar evolution), J. Crawford (“dog-eat-dog” hypothesis), F. Hoyle and H. Bondi (accretion), S.-S. Huang (angular momentum losses), and S. Chandrasekhar (gravitational radiation). Some comparisons are made between “what we knew then and what we know now.” With apologies to all, the speaker will recall some anecdotes of an earlier time and comment on developments of the past score of years from a very personal perspective.