A really nice write-up of the discovery and implications of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), including lots of anecdotes from R. Wilson (1 of the 2 discoverers). It's basically impossible to overstate the importance of the CMB for our understanding of cosmology & the Universe's evolution. 🧪🔭 - ThreadSky

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mbkplus.bsky.social • 542 days ago

A really nice write-up of the discovery and implications of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), including lots of anecdotes from R. Wilson (1 of the 2 discoverers). It's basically impossible to overstate the importance of the CMB for our understanding of cosmology & the Universe's evolution. 🧪🔭

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mpoessel.de•542 days ago

Since I don't have a subscription: do they mention that the receiver ended up in Munich?

mbkplus.bsky.social•542 days ago

I don't think so; here's a gift link that you should be able to read:

mpoessel.de•542 days ago

Thanks for the link! The story as I remember it is that when the receiver they used for the CMB was being decommissioned, Penzias was in charge of deciding what to do with it. He researched science museums, since he wanted to make sure that the receiver was preserved in a suitable fashion. 1/

mpoessel.de•542 days ago

He was impressed with the visitor numbers of Deutsches Museum Munich, and donated the receiver to that museum. Quite generous, in particular given that his family had been forced to emigrate from Germany - Penzias himself leaving on one of the "Kindertransporte", "children's transports", his 2/

mpoessel.de•542 days ago

family following later. So that is how the receiver ended up in Deutsches Museum. It's not displayed as prominently as Penzias would have wished, and when he told me the story (in 2012, I think) he planned to talk to Deutsches Museum about that. A picture of the setup is attached. 3/3

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