Detecting the ‘Bang’ from the Big Bang
29:57 minutes
Researchers have detected a nearly 14-billion-year-old signal that helps to confirm the idea of inflation, which theorizes that the universe quickly expanded right after the Big Bang. Physicists Lawrence Krauss, John Kovac, and Alan Guth—the father of inflation—discuss what this discovery can tell us about the early universe and what it might mean for the future of physics.
Segment Guests
Alan Guth
Alan Guth is the Victor F. Weisskopf Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts.
Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence Krauss is director and foundation professor at The ASU Origins Project at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. His latest book is The Greatest Story Ever Told–So Far. Why Are We Here? (Atria Books, 2017).
John Kovac
John Kovac is an associate professor in astronomy and physics at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Related Links
- BICEP2 2014 Results Release
- First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation
- Nature video: The beginning of everything
- That Signal From the Beginning of Time Could Redefine Our Universe
- Cosmic Inflation: How It Gave the Universe the Ultimate Kickstart (Infographic)
- A Scientific Breakthrough Lets Us See to the Beginning of Time
- A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather Than Nothing
Meet the Producer
About Alexa Lim
@AlexaLim22Alexa Lim was a senior producer for Science Friday. Her favorite stories involve space, sound, and strange animal discoveries.