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Sizing up the Big Bang

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Sizing up the Big Bang

Nobel laureate Robert Wilson

Jon Chase, Harvard Staff Photographer

Astronomer Robert Wilson lifted his fingers to make air quotes around "problem." The Nobel laureate's problem occurred 50 years ago and would help explain the origins of the universe. In fact, it turned out to be the echo of the Big Bang from 13.7 billion years ago, which Wilson detected through a massive, horn-shaped antenna.

Working at Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J., Wilson and colleague Arno Penzias "were measuring thermal noise, and our measurements showed a problem. The antenna had almost twice as much noise as it was supposed to. It was a real disappointment." He went on, "In retrospect, it was the first evidence we've ever had for cosmic background radiation."

Wilson's recollection came as part of a program titled "50 Years After the Discovery of the Big Bang" Thursday at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). He was joined by Avi Loeb and Robert Kirshner, both of Harvard, and Alan Guth of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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Physics of the Primordial Universe

Harvard University Department of Astronomy, Institute for Theory and Computation
The Big Bang theory of cosmology successfully describes the 13.7 billion years of evolutionary history of our Universe. However, it is known that the current Big Bang theory cannot self-consistently explain its initial conditions. We are interested in finding out what caused the Big Bang, and the physics involved in this primordial epoch. We study physics, build models and propose observables for the primordial universe using quantum field theory, general relativity and/or string theory, and test them with data from astrophysical observations.
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