Q&A with John Mather on the James Webb Space Telescope (#382)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The James Webb Space Telescope is a monumental step forward in our pursuit of understanding the Universe and its origins. Here today, to answer the most frequently asked questions about the telescope, is the senior project scientist himself, John Cromwell Mather! John is an astrophysicist and cosmologist of the highest rank. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite COBE along with his colleague George Smoot. Now, he’s exploring the early Universe via the JWST. Tune in! Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:13 James Webb Space Telescope 00:04:16 Why are people so fascinated with space exploration? 00:07:07 Does Webb have the potential to see small rocky planets close to us? 00:09:45 Can Webb rule out or comment on the uniformity of the universe? 00:12:14 Will the TRAPPIST-1 system be viewed by Webb? 00:14:39 Will future projects self-assemble and self-replicate? 00:15:56 Can we look at Europa? 00:20:53 Rapid fire questions 00:24:30 Advice for aspiring students 00:25:24 Outro — Additional resources: ➡️ Learn more about John Mather: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2006/mather/biographical/ ➡️ Follow me on your favorite platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Where did we come from? How did we go from an expanded universe with the hot and cold spots in it?
0:04.7	To here we are having our little planet that's a nice place to live. How did that happen?
0:09.1	And we also really want to know are we all all? Everybody wants to know that. My personal opinion is
0:14.4	no we're not alone but the neighbors are really far awake. Even though we know most
0:18.4	stars have planets we have not found any systems that resemble our own solar system yet.
0:23.4	There's a lot of mystery here.
0:25.1	Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
0:37.0	Open the pod bay doors now.
0:40.0	Dr. John Mather, Senior Project Scientist of the James Webb Space Telescope, which has been in the news for some reason.
0:48.0	We don't know. I mean, maybe it's because John, his chapter in this this book which he doesn't even have a copy of
0:55.6	into the impossible this I'm going to send you right after this interview John
0:59.8	forgiving John. John how are you, how are you doing right now?
1:03.2	I'm great and I'm greatly relieved because now that we've gotten to this point
1:08.0	I'm just beginning to seek of all those things that were dangerous along the way.
1:12.1	Yes, everything that seek of all those things that were dangerous along the way.
1:13.0	Yes, everything that could have gone wrong didn't go,
1:17.0	could have got wrong, didn't go wrong,
1:19.0	but it still must have been incredibly nervous.
1:21.0	And well, I wasn't nervous, but maybe I should have been.
1:24.8	Other people were because they were actually taking care of all those things that I should have
1:28.5	worried about.
1:30.0	And so, kind of funny if people were nervous and doing their job.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brian Keating, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Brian Keating and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.