The Nobel Prize winning scientist Arno Penzias wonders if physics has anything left to offer after the Big Bang theory. Dr. Penzias is famous for his discovery in 1965 of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the only real evidence that this ancient explosion ever happened. It’s a kind of “faint echo” heard in every corner of the cosmos and has helped the Big Bang theory become the most widely accepted, most credible explanation of the origin of the universe.
The theory gives us effect but scientists are still looking for the cause with ideas like Dark Matter, String Theory, Quantum Gravity, They’re looking inside billion-dollar particle accelerators for the creation artist formerly known as god. The Big Bang model is indeed a triumph of modern science that perhaps asks more questions than it answers, but Arno Penzias think maybe modern cosmology is over-analyzing the evidence. The birth of the universe and the end of physics is this hour on The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Arno Penzias, Astronomer, Astrophysicist and winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics