George Smoot
George Smoot | |
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Thesis | Charge exchange of positive Kaon on platinum at three GeV/C (1971) |
Doctoral advisor | David H. Frisch[2] |
Part of a series on |
Physical cosmology |
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George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20, 1945) is an American
This work helped further the Big Bang theory of the universe using the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite.[3] According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science."[4] Smoot donated his share of the Nobel Prize money, less travel costs, to a charitable foundation.[5]
Smoot has been at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 1970. He is Chair of the Endowment Fund "Physics of the Universe" of Paris Center for Cosmological Physics. Apart from being elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Smoot has been honored by several universities worldwide with doctorates or professorships. He was also the recipient of Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2006), Daniel Chalonge Medal from the International School of Astrophysics (2006), Einstein Medal from Albert Einstein Society (2003), Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from the US Department of Energy (1995), and the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal from NASA (1991). He is a member of the Advisory Board of the journal Universe.
Smoot is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President George W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.[6]
Early life
Smoot was born in
Initial research
George Smoot switched to cosmology and began work at Berkeley, collaborating with
He then took up an interest in
COBE
At that time, the CMB appeared to be perfectly uniform excluding the distortion caused by the Doppler effect as mentioned above. This result contradicted observations of the universe, with various structures such as
The success of COBE was the outcome of extensive teamwork involving more than 1,000 researchers, engineers and other participants. John Mather coordinated the entire process and also had primary responsibility for the experiment that revealed the blackbody form of the CMB measured by COBE. Smoot had the main responsibility of measuring the small variations in the temperature of the radiation.[15]
Smoot collaborated with San Francisco Chronicle journalist Keay Davidson to write the general-audience book Wrinkles in Time, that chronicled his team's efforts.[16] In the book The Very First Light, John Mather and John Boslough complement and broaden the COBE story,[17] and suggest that Smoot violated team policy by leaking news of COBE's discoveries to the press before NASA's formal announcement, a leak that, to Mather, smacked of self-promotion and betrayal. Smoot eventually apologized for not following the agreed publicity plan and Mather said tensions eventually eased. Mather acknowledged that Smoot had "brought COBE worldwide publicity" the project might not normally have received.[18]
Other projects
After COBE, Smoot took part in another experiment involving a stratospheric balloon,
Smoot is credited by Mickey Hart for inspiring the album Mysterium Tremendum, which is based, in part on "sounds" that can be extracted from the background signature of the Big Bang.[21]
As of September 2019[update], Smoot is an artificial intelligence scientist for the GTA Foundation, whose business is storing genomic sequencing data and using it in scientific applications.[22]
In November 2020, he joined Dead Sea Premier as head of research for their NUNA advanced technology anti-aging medical device development.[citation needed]
In April 2021, he joined the Xiaomi eco-system company Viomi as chief scientist for their AI-development.[citation needed]
In January 2023, George Fitzgerald Smoot III joined the National Council for Science and Technology under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.[23]
Media appearances
Smoot had a
On September 18, 2009, Smoot appeared on an episode of the
On December 10, 2009, he appeared in a BBC interview of Nobel laureates, discussing the value science has to offer society.
Smoot gave a 2014
In 2016, Smoot appeared in a TV commercial for Intuit TurboTax, advising a user of the software on what to do.[30]
Selected publications
- Lubin, P. M. & G. F. Smoot. "Search for Linear Polarization of the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (Oct. 1978).
- Gorenstein, M. V.& G. F. Smoot. "Large-Angular-Scale Anisotropy in the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (May 1980).
- Smoot, G. F., De Amici, G., Friedman, S. D., Witebsky, C., Mandolesi, N., Partridge, R. B., Sironi, G., Danese, L. & G. De Zotti. "Low Frequency Measurement of the Spectrum of the Cosmic Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (June 1983).
- Smoot, G. F., De Amici, G., Levin, S. & C. Witebsky. "New Measurements of the Cosmic Background Radiation Spectrum", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (Dec. 1984).
- Smoot, G., Levin, S. M., Witebsky, C., De Amici, G., Y. Rephaeli. "An Analysis of Recent Measurements of the Temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), United States Department of Energy, (July 1987).
- Ade, P., Balbi, A., Bock, J., Borrill, J., Boscaleri, A., de Bernardis, P., Ferreira, P. G., Hanany, S., Hristov, V. V., Jaffe, A. H., Lange, A. E., Lee, A. T., Mauskopf, P. D., Netterfield, C. B., Oh, S., Pascale, E., Rabii, B., Richards, P. L., Smoot, G. F., Stompor, R., Winant, C. D. & J. H. P. Wu. "MAXIMA-1: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy on Angular Scales of 10' to 5 degrees", National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation(NSF), KDI Precision Products, Inc., Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council UK, (June 4, 2005).
- Smoot, George; Keay Davidson (1994). ISBN 0-380-72044-2.
References
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ Katherine Bourzac (12 January 2007). "Nobel Causes". Technology Review. Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
And Smoot himself can still vividly recall playing a practical joke on his graduate thesis advisor, MIT physics professor David Frisch.
- ^ Horgan, J. (1992) Profile: George F. Smoot – COBE's Cosmic Cartographer, Scientific American 267(1), 34–41.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006" (Press release). The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ "Berkeley Nobel laureates donate prize money to charity" (PDF). Associated Press. 22 March 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ "A Letter from America's Physics Nobel Laureates" (PDF).
- ^ Jones, Gregory L (18 April 2007). "Nobel Prize winner returns home" (PDF). Upper Arlington News. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
- .
- MITPress Office. 3 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-03.
- ^ "At MIT, future Nobelist not above a prank or two". The Boston Globe. October 4, 2006. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ "The SMOOT as unit of Length". Aether.lbl.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- S2CID 120701913.
- ^ "U.S. Scientists Find a 'Holy Grail': Ripples at Edge of the Universe". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. April 24, 1992. p. 1.
- ^ Thomas H. Maugh, II (April 24, 1992). "Relics of Big Bang, Seen for First Time". Los Angeles Times. pp. A1, A30.
- ^ "Pictures of a Newborn Universe" (Press release). Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 3 October 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ISBN 0-688-12330-9.
- ISBN 0-465-01575-1.
- ^ Lynn Yarris (26 October 2006). "After the Phone Call". Science@Berkeley Lab. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ^ "Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP)". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ^ "Spitzer Cosmic Far-IR Background Project". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ^ "Into the Heart of Music: Recording the Mickey Hart Band's "Mysterium Tremendum" | Grateful Dead". www.dead.net. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
- ^ "The Grand Opening of GTA Gene Data Storage and Application Summit Forum Heralds A Promising Future of Gene Technology". Benzinga. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "Касым-Жомарт Токаев подписал указ о создании Нацсовета по науке и технологиям при Президенте РК". www.inform.kz (in Russian). 2023-01-26.
- ^ "The Terminator Decoupling". The Big Bang Theory. Season 2. Episode 17. 9 March 2009. 20 minutes in. CBS.
- ^ "The Big Bang Theory Videos". CBS. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
- ^ Lorre, Chuck. "Big Bang Theory Season 2 Episode 19 Vanity Card". Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ "Are You Smarter Than 5th Grader? Season 3 Ep. 27". FOX, Mark Burnett Productions. Archived from the original on September 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
- ^ "You are a Simulation & Physics Can Prove It: George Smoot at TEDxSalford". Tedx Talks. 11 February 2014.
- ^ Sean Martin (24 February 2016). "Humans already living in a COMPUTER SIMULATION, leading Nobel Prize astrophysicist warns". Express.co.uk.
- ^ Staff. (January 4, 2016) "Physics Geniuses Illustrate the Mind-Bending Simplicity of TurboTax in W+K's New Ads; Campaign will include a Super Bowl spot By David Gianatasio" Adweek"
External links
- Media related to George Smoot at Wikimedia Commons
- Smoot Group Cosmology official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2021-05-26) at the Energetic Cosmos Laboratory
- Smoot Group Cosmology official website at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Low gravity phase separator U.S. Patent 4027494
- Nobel Prize announcement
- George Smoot on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture December 8, 2006 Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Anisotropies: Their Discovery and Utilization
- Contemplating the birth of the universe Archived 2008-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
- George Smoot on the design of the universe
- George Smoot at IMDb
- George Smoot chairs the Eutelsat Star Awards
- George Smoot accepts position in Moscow State University
- Pariscosmo.fr Paris Center for Cosmological Physics at APC Laboratory