Keay Davidson

This is one of best popular science books I've read for some time. Its core is the discovery (using the COBE satellite) of small variations in in the cosmic microwave background radiation which provided evidence for inflation and the big bang. George Smoot led the team behind this. Science in this area has moved on quite a bit, but that's no reason not to seek out this book and enjoy reading it.

The writing is accessible throughout, and easy to consume in large chunks despite the amount of information that's being conveyed in some parts of the book. The early chapters give an excellent description of the history of cosmology and the parts of particle physics that are key to the theories behind the discovery. I'm relatively familiar with both areas but there were aspects that were new to me, and even the parts that were familiar were written in a way that I felt deepened my understanding. The bulk of the book then focusses on Smoot's research career, the work that led up to COBE and the story of COBE itself and the investigation of the data it returned.

This narrative is excellent in giving a truer picture of what scientific research in fields such as this is really like - gruelling at times, stretching out over many years, full of failure as well as success, and dependent on large teams of specialists. Smoot is meticulous throughout in giving credit to others. There's a 16-page appendix listing over 1000 names of those who worked on COBE in some way, and the contributions of many of them are highlighted throughout the text.

Overall, an excellent book.… (more)

Relato del maravilloso descubrimiento del "eco del big bang", el espectro completo la radiación de fondo de microondas, incluyendo su asimetría de cuadrupolo, que ponía firmes cimientos a la teoría del Big Bang. Desde que Arno Penzias y Robert Wilson descubrieran accidentalmente la señal ubicua que dejó el petardazo del Big Bang hasta la publicación, en intensa rueda de prensa, de los resultados del satélite COBE en 1992 (al autor del estudio y del libro le caería el Nobel de 2006). Maravillosa aventura por la historia del Universo, muy, muy recomendable.… (more)