Earth & Space Science · 1965
A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s
Arno A. Penzias, Robert W. Wilson
Overview
Penzias and Wilson reported a faint, uniform microwave hiss coming from every direction in the sky that they could not eliminate. It was the cosmic microwave background — the leftover radiation from the hot early universe, and decisive evidence for the Big Bang.
Discovered the cosmic microwave background; won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Key findings
Methods
Careful radiometry with a low-noise horn antenna at 4080 MHz, systematically ruling out instrumental, atmospheric, and terrestrial sources of the residual noise.
Keywords
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