2 win Nobel for picture of backfire from Big Bang

Two physicists who obtained a satellite picture of the infant universe a mere 389,000 years after its explosive birth 13 billion years ago--a feat most scientists thought would never be achieved--have been awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics.

Many consider their accomplishment the most important development in the field of cosmology, cementing the Big Bang theory as the best explanation for how the universe began, showing how stars and galaxies formed and providing scientists with a marvelous time machine for exploring the past and future of the cosmos.

For their measurement of cosmic
background radiation--the afterglow of the Big Bang--John Mather of
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and George Smoot of the
University of California at Berkeley will share the $1.37 million prize
at a ceremony Dec. 10 in Stockholm, Nobel officials announced Tuesday.

source

NowPublic

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