PrefaceIntroductionSTORIES: Discoveries about CreativityLaws Of Planetary MotionElectricity From CloudsBand-AidPneumatic TyresGummed PaperThe Trap Of ParadigmInvention Of Sewing MachineJust-In-Time SystemTransmission of Nerve ImpulsesPrinting PressDangers Of LocomotivesFlashlightLawn MowerPhonographRubber HeelsThe Periodic TableDiscovery Of Electromagnetic FieldsThe Tao Of PhysicsCongenital Impact of RubellaTypewriterThe Theory Of EvolutionThe Benzene RingThe Wreck Of TitanicWagner's RheingoldUnderwater ConstructionSearch For The "Hidden Likeness"Fermi & Nuclear FissionCash RegisterDiscovery Of Current ElectricityCure Of DiabetesBoolean AlgebraPrinciple Of PhotosynthesisBall Point PenThe X-RayThe Fuschian FunctionsSafety GlassThe Creative TriggersWhy Aeroplanes Cannot FlyThe "Brownies" Of StevensonThe Blunder That Founded 3MInvention Of AC MotorDiscovery Of TeflonToynbee's The Study Of HistoryInventors' BlindnessThe Excitement Of CreativityElectric FanHow Typhus Gets TransmittedProof Of The Big BangMathematical Theory Of ChanceColeridge's Kubla KhanVulcanisation ProcessStructure Of The CrystalsThe Compulsion To Create3M's Post-It Note PadsIce Cream ConesThe Structural Theory Of AtomIBM And ComputersHelicopterHow Experts Resist IdeasCreative Reveries Of Enid BlytonPredictions In Gulliver's TravelsFloat Glass TechnologyPrinciple Of ImmunisationJourney Into UnknownThe Genius Of Karl Fredrich GaussJean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round TableNeon LightTransistor RadiosPrecocious Minds?The Masterpiece Of Sir Walter ScottThe "Fraud" That Changed The WorldThe "99% Perspiration"XeroxingThe Poem Of Stephen SpenderThe Anatomy Of InspirationTravellers' ChequesEdison's FraudAwe, Wonder And AlienationThe Logic Of Irrational
Epilogue: Themes & Patterns |
Proof of the Big Bang
In 1965, new radio-astronomers, AA Penzias and RW Wilson were trying out a new apparatus to measure the intensity of microwaves emitted from certain regions of our galaxy. They were puzzled when they found evidence of considerable microwave activity from almost all parts of the universe. These mysterious signals were not related to any specific part of the sky, time of the day, or to seasons. They initially thought that it must be because of some error in their instrument, but investigations also ruled out this possibility. After discussing with other colleagues, they concluded that what they had discovered could not be anything else except radio "noise" left over since the universe began some fifteen billion years ago with a Big Bang. This discovery, like many others, came through accident. What is also interesting is the reason why it took so many years to make this discovery, even though there was a theory predicting that the Big Bang occurred, and the technology for detecting such signals was available for the past ten years. One of the main reasons was that most experimental physicists (the "practitioners") worked completely independent of the theoretical physicists. Trained to accept only the visible experimental results, they found it difficult to believe that obtruse mathematics could refer to actual events. Thus even though experimental scientists had often noted similar "noise" in their measurements, they had ignored it.
|
