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Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Lyman Page: The Little Book of Cosmology ​(#202)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lyman Alexander Page, Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He is an expert in observational cosmology and one of the original co-investigators for the WMAP probe that made precise observations of the cosmic background radiation, an electromagnetic echo of the Universe's Big Bang phase. Along with students and collaborators, Professor Lyman measures the spatial temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB, which pervades the universe, is the thermal afterglow of the big bang. Detailed knowledge of the magnitude and pattern of the fluctuations in temperature from spot to spot on the sky, or anisotropy, help us understand how the universe evolved and how the observed structure, at sizes ranging from galaxies to superclusters of galaxies, were formed. From precise measurements of the CMB, one can also deduce many of the cosmological parameters and the physics of the very early universe. For example cosmologists have been able to determine the geometry and age of the universe, the cosmic density of baryons, the cosmic density of dark matter, and the Hubble parameter to percent-level accuracy. Lyman is the author of The Little Book of Cosmology, which provides a breathtaking look at our universe on the grandest scales imaginable. Written by one of the world's leading experimental cosmologists, this short but deeply insightful book describes what scientists are revealing through precise measurements of the faint thermal afterglow of the Big Bang―known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB―and how their findings are transforming our view of the cosmos. Please join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 A New Contender is Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6A6myur--c Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Weinstein and Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sheldon Glashow: https://youtu.be/a0_iaWgxQtA?sub_confirmation=1 Neil deGrasse Tyson https://youtu.be/1kxgK6J4S5Y Michio Kaku: https://youtu.be/3to9ymn-XKI Michael Saylor: https://youtu.be/CaN_CDKqXOg?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/sh98cwRkzAA Be my friend: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.php A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Please contact sales@advertisecast.com to learn more about sponsoring Into the Impossible. Credits: Sloan Digital Sky Survey NASA, Goddard Music: Miguel Tully - Music Producer - Yeti Tears https://soundcloud.com/yetitears Theo Ryan, http://the-omusic.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

When we look we find things we don't expect some little toehold that can then take you in a whole new direction.

0:10.4

It's a long process of chipping away and making really sure you understand your measurements.

0:17.0

Putting the picture together, getting rid of the chaff, and realizing, no, this is really a new aspect of nature.

0:24.0

Hey friends, it's a delight to be introducing you to Lyman Page,

0:31.0

one of my oldest and greatest of all colleagues and inspiration, a mentor, a friend, one of the pioneers behind the cosmology experiment called Toko that was the first to reveal the universe was spatially

0:46.5

flat meaning that any triangle that you could make as big as you want in the entirety

0:51.5

of the universe will still have its interior angles add up to

0:55.2

180 degrees, just like a triangle on a flat piece of paper. So he measured the curvature of the

1:00.9

universe, founding it to be flat.

1:03.4

And that's kind of funny because nowadays many people claim the Earth is flat.

1:07.4

Well the Earth isn't flat, but the universe is flat.

1:10.4

And Lyman will tell us a little bit about that on today's episode.

1:13.2

He'll also recount some stories from the famous Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe,

1:17.9

which he co-led as one of the chief scientists on that program.

1:21.1

And if you go to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, and you type in the word science, which means knowledge, you will see a picture that was produced by the Wilkinson microwave antis isotropy probe,

1:33.1

which was co-developed along with Lyman Page

1:35.9

and his team members at Princeton,

1:40.0

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. And he's just such a mercurial, wonderful human being.

1:46.2

I love working with him.

1:47.6

He's brilliant.

1:48.5

I always learn something new from him.

1:50.0

And he's a gentleman.

...

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