sir fred hoyle (24 june 1915 – 20 august 2001) was an english astronomer. he is noted mainly for being the first man to think of the idea that nuclear fusion might happen in stars, like our sun. in addition to his work as an astronomer, hoyle was a writer of science fiction, including a number of books co-written with his son geoffrey hoyle. fred hoyle gave the big bang theory its name in a radio broadcast.