Robert Woodrow Wilson

Robert Woodrow Wilson is an American radio astronomer who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Arno Penzias: Arno Penzias is an American physicist who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the cosmic microwave background. Wilson and Penzias jointly identified the persistent microwave signal at Bell Labs.
Holmdel Horn Antenna: The large horn-reflector radio antenna at Bell Labs used to detect the cosmic microwave background. Wilson and Penzias used this antenna to measure microwave radiation arriving from the sky.
Big Bang: The Big Bang is the leading cosmological model in which the universe expanded from an early hot, dense state. The background radiation provided strong evidence for the hot early universe described by this model.
1978 Nobel Prize in Physics: The 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized discoveries in cosmic microwave background radiation and low-temperature physics. Wilson shared the prize with Arno Penzias for their discovery of the background radiation.
Dicke Group: The Princeton research team led by physicist Robert H. Dicke to search for the cosmic microwave background. The group’s independent search helped interpret the Bell Labs signal as primordial radiation.
Radio Astronomy: Radio astronomy studies celestial objects by detecting radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation. Wilson’s antenna measurements used radio astronomy to investigate radiation across the sky.
Ralph Alpher: Ralph Alpher was an American cosmologist who developed early calculations of element formation in the hot Big Bang. Alpher and Robert Herman predicted relic radiation from the early universe decades before its detection.
COBE: COBE was a NASA satellite that measured the cosmic microwave background’s spectrum and large-scale temperature variations. Its precise measurements confirmed the radiation’s thermal spectrum and extended Wilson’s discovery.
Robert H. Dicke: Robert H. Dicke was an American physicist whose work spanned precision measurement, gravity, and cosmology. Dicke recognized the cosmological significance of the signal Wilson and Penzias reported.
Microwave: Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than infrared light and shorter than radio waves. The unexplained signal Wilson measured fell in the microwave part of the spectrum.

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