Radio astronomy's CMB (co-discovery)

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Who

Arno Penzias, a German-born Jewish physicist who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, with Robert Wilson.

When

1964–1965

Where

Holmdel, New Jersey, United States

The cosmic microwave background is faint radiation left over from the early universe and is a key pillar of Big Bang cosmology. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected it in 1964–65 at Bell Labs, sharing the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics. Penzias was born to a Jewish family in Munich and was sent to safety in England on the Kindertransport before emigrating to the United States.

Part of “The Gifts of the Jews” — verified Jewish contributions to the world, with sources.