George Smoot led the team behind COBE, the first space probe to make maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the "echo" of the Big Bang which permeates all of space. The maps showed minute fluctuations in temperature in the CMB; these would later form the "seeds" around which matter formed and concentrated. The "wrinkles in time" of the title.
But long before COBE, Smoot and team were launching experiments from balloons in the Antarctic and over the jungles of South America. They were designing and building cutting-edge instruments which could make measurements of the cosmos from high-flying U2 spyplanes. These tales are filled with equal measure of triumph and tragedy, punctuated throughout with Smoot's wry humour. Smoot brings the actual business of doing science to life beautifully: we freeze with him in Anarctica when he is launching balloons or wrestling against the wind to construct a telescope, and sweat with him in the jungle as his team searches for a crashed balloon gondola with its priceless scientific payload. Along the way we learn the science behind Smoot's quest: to make those historic maps of the CMB, revealing the first signs of structure in the early Universe. It's an engrossing tale, written for non-scientists and eloquently described.
Smoot, of course, won the Nobel Prize for his work in 2006, and this book makes you realise how richly it was deserved. A classic book.
But long before COBE, Smoot and team were launching experiments from balloons in the Antarctic and over the jungles of South America. They were designing and building cutting-edge instruments which could make measurements of the cosmos from high-flying U2 spyplanes. These tales are filled with equal measure of triumph and tragedy, punctuated throughout with Smoot's wry humour. Smoot brings the actual business of doing science to life beautifully: we freeze with him in Anarctica when he is launching balloons or wrestling against the wind to construct a telescope, and sweat with him in the jungle as his team searches for a crashed balloon gondola with its priceless scientific payload. Along the way we learn the science behind Smoot's quest: to make those historic maps of the CMB, revealing the first signs of structure in the early Universe. It's an engrossing tale, written for non-scientists and eloquently described.
Smoot, of course, won the Nobel Prize for his work in 2006, and this book makes you realise how richly it was deserved. A classic book.
