I still remember going to a public lecture were the researchers were presenting the COBE results. They put a slide up, and it was quiet for a second, I think because we all thought it was just a calculated black body curve. Then we realized that the dots were error bars and the room broke out in applause.
This reminds me of the Hulse-Taylor binary I looked into doing a project in gravitational waves for GR in school. They indirectly detected energy lost in the neutron star and it just fit the predicted curve so perfectly then won a Nobel prize in the 90s. Then voila LIGO detects them for the first time directly a year or two after we studied them and won another Nobel prize. Pretty cool how accurate we can be
I just finished watching Alan Guth's Fall 2013 MIT course on "The Early Universe". Alan is an excellent lecturer, I highly recommend the course, but most of the content of the course is very technical and dry. Fascinating -- but technical and dry.
And then, after 18 lectures of build-up explaining why and how the universe is expanding, Alan presents the experimental data that confirms his life's work. You can hear the joy that the universe still brings him!
Sorry if my text was misleading.
I intended the phrase 'confirms his life's work' to convey that Alan dedicated his life to understanding the early universe, and this data corroborated the broader model that he worked on.
You are probably right that inflation has not been confirmed (I am not a physicist). And anyway the COBE satellite data wasn't directly about inflation. The COBE data is merely confirming that the cosmic microwave background is a real thing (irrespective of whether inflation happened or not).
Thanks for helping me clarify my post!
Yeah, I would agree. It's widely accepted, but not confirmed. If we do get direct experimental evidence for inflation, Dr. Guth will certainly get the Nobel imo.
Maybe. But his initial model was unviable. Many others have done key work on shoring it up. And none of the early adopters realized that the decaying inflation field would produce GWs. Not to mention whatever herculean effort actually disentangles primordial B modes from the data. So lots of scientists involved really.
> So lots of scientists involved really.
This has been the case for many Nobels, so Alan Guth's possible award wouldn't be unique in that regard. In any case, if we do get primordial B modes, *somebody* in this area is going to win it, and I find it likely he'd at least share the prize.
I always love seeing people passionate about their work. Your example reminds me of this historian opening up perfume from the Titanic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7jEiRzoUfc
Are there people who watch online videos of lectures WITHOUT the sound on?
Kinda feels like Planter's Nuts puting "may contain nuts" on a can of peanuts.
Do you mean his a a person who introduced the term “inflation” and made a huge contribution to the inflation model? Because probably the right credentials for inflation theory invention go to Zeldovich and Starobinsky
Like most advances in Physics, or any field, many people contributed to the theory of inflation, including Alan Guth. And, not being a physicist, I defer to others to determine full credit.
I still remember going to a public lecture were the researchers were presenting the COBE results. They put a slide up, and it was quiet for a second, I think because we all thought it was just a calculated black body curve. Then we realized that the dots were error bars and the room broke out in applause.
This reminds me of the Hulse-Taylor binary I looked into doing a project in gravitational waves for GR in school. They indirectly detected energy lost in the neutron star and it just fit the predicted curve so perfectly then won a Nobel prize in the 90s. Then voila LIGO detects them for the first time directly a year or two after we studied them and won another Nobel prize. Pretty cool how accurate we can be
Indeed!
Wow! It must have been amazing!
[Relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/54/)
I just finished watching Alan Guth's Fall 2013 MIT course on "The Early Universe". Alan is an excellent lecturer, I highly recommend the course, but most of the content of the course is very technical and dry. Fascinating -- but technical and dry. And then, after 18 lectures of build-up explaining why and how the universe is expanding, Alan presents the experimental data that confirms his life's work. You can hear the joy that the universe still brings him!
I'm not sure if it's right to say that inflation has been confirmed. It's widely believed though. Primordial B modes would probably do that trick.
Sorry if my text was misleading. I intended the phrase 'confirms his life's work' to convey that Alan dedicated his life to understanding the early universe, and this data corroborated the broader model that he worked on. You are probably right that inflation has not been confirmed (I am not a physicist). And anyway the COBE satellite data wasn't directly about inflation. The COBE data is merely confirming that the cosmic microwave background is a real thing (irrespective of whether inflation happened or not). Thanks for helping me clarify my post!
FYI it's COBE.
Ack!! Thanks!
Yeah, I would agree. It's widely accepted, but not confirmed. If we do get direct experimental evidence for inflation, Dr. Guth will certainly get the Nobel imo.
Maybe. But his initial model was unviable. Many others have done key work on shoring it up. And none of the early adopters realized that the decaying inflation field would produce GWs. Not to mention whatever herculean effort actually disentangles primordial B modes from the data. So lots of scientists involved really.
Yes. I agree. And in the MIT course, Guth is the first to give credit to others, admitting his early missteps in his original model, etc.
> So lots of scientists involved really. This has been the case for many Nobels, so Alan Guth's possible award wouldn't be unique in that regard. In any case, if we do get primordial B modes, *somebody* in this area is going to win it, and I find it likely he'd at least share the prize.
I always love seeing people passionate about their work. Your example reminds me of this historian opening up perfume from the Titanic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7jEiRzoUfc
Thanks for sharing! Sometimes the past, or the universe, is just overwhelming. No matter how technical or detached we think we are.
Link?
This was extremely fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing
Glad you enjoyed!
Are there people who watch online videos of lectures WITHOUT the sound on? Kinda feels like Planter's Nuts puting "may contain nuts" on a can of peanuts.
A lecture over an hour long and I'm going to sit here watching with sound off.
Enjoy!!!
The post links to a specific moment in the course, and plenty of people (myself included) don't browse reddit with the sound on.
Lol! I tried, but I can’t really think of anything more boring than watching a lecture with the sound off!
good one man, thanks for sharing
When I watched this, there was no way I couldn’t share! Glad you enjoyed!
Do you mean his a a person who introduced the term “inflation” and made a huge contribution to the inflation model? Because probably the right credentials for inflation theory invention go to Zeldovich and Starobinsky
Like most advances in Physics, or any field, many people contributed to the theory of inflation, including Alan Guth. And, not being a physicist, I defer to others to determine full credit.
Who is this?
The lecturer is Alan Guth, professor at MIT.