Salpeter examined the triple alpha process: Salpeter 1952. (Also Bondi and Salpeter 1952.) Salpeter went on to have a distinguished career in astrophysics.

“Bad luck for poor old Ed”: Hoyle 1982, p. 3.

“had to go a lot faster”: Hoyle 1982, p. 3.

Hoyle calculated that for carbon production: While there had been some earlier suggestions for resonances around 7.4 MeV or so, those had never been confirmed, and in any case, no resonant level had been suggested (before Hoyle’s prediction) above 7.5 MeV.

What happened at that meeting: After many years, the participants had somewhat different recollections of the events. A good summary of the various versions can be found in Kragh 2010.