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Arno Penzias

! scientist · # tag · @ author
1933–2024 · astrophysics, radio astronomy
American physicist, one of the discoverers of the cosmic microwave background radiation — the "echo of the Big Bang". This observation turned cosmology from a speculative theory into a precise science. Penzias and his colleague Robert Wilson were working with a supersensitive antenna at Bell Labs when they accidentally discovered the background radiation.

Biography

Born in Munich, fled the Nazis to the USA as a child. Graduated from City College of New York, earned his PhD at Columbia University. Spent his entire career at Bell Labs. For the discovery of the relic radiation, he shared the 1978 Nobel Prize with Wilson (the other half of the prize went to Pyotr Kapitsa).

Key discoveries

💡 When tuning the antenna, Penzias and Wilson attributed the constant noise to pigeons that had soiled it with droppings. They thoroughly cleaned the antenna, but the signal remained — thus discovering the radiation predicted by Gamow and his team.
Quote: "If you don't want to find something unexpected, you shouldn't be doing research."
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big bangspectroscopy
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Robert HookeJohann Jakob BalmerJocelyn Bell BurnellCharles TownesRalph AlpherStephen HawkingEdwin HubbleJames Clerk Maxwell

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