A junkyard contains all the bits and pieces of a Boeing 747, dismembered and in disarray. A whirlwind happens to blow through the yard. What is the chance that after its passage a fully assembled 747, ready to fly, will be found standing there? So small as to be negligible, even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole Universe.

Two key colleagues in this war work were Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold and the three had many and deep discussions on cosmology. 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. Hoyle compared the random emergence of even the simplest cell without panspermia to the likelihood that "a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.

Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory a term originally coined by him on BBC radio. 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. He died in Bournemouth England after a series of strokes.