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Arno Allan Penzias

 

 
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Arno Allan Penzias
 
 
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Arno Allan Penzias (born April 26, 1933) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 physicist
Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many Physics#Major fields of physics spanning all length scales: from atom particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole ....
 and Nobel laureate in physics
Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
.

Penzias was born in Munich
Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. At age six he was among the Jewish children evacuated to Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 as part of the Kindertransport
Kindertransport

Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazism Germany, and the occupied territories of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig....
 rescue operation. Six months later his parents also fled Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 for the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, and the family settled in the Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan

The Garment District is a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, located between Fifth and Ninth Avenues from 34th to 42nd Street....
 of New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 in 1940. In 1946, Penzias became a naturalized citizen of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School

Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech or just Tech, and also administratively as High School 430, is a New York City public high school that specializes in engineering, math and science and is the largest specialized high school for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United State...
 in 1951 and received a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years....
 from the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
 in 1954.






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Arno Allan Penzias (born April 26, 1933) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 physicist
Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many Physics#Major fields of physics spanning all length scales: from atom particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole ....
 and Nobel laureate in physics
Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
.

Penzias was born in Munich
Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. At age six he was among the Jewish children evacuated to Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 as part of the Kindertransport
Kindertransport

Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazism Germany, and the occupied territories of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig....
 rescue operation. Six months later his parents also fled Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 for the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, and the family settled in the Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan

The Garment District is a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, located between Fifth and Ninth Avenues from 34th to 42nd Street....
 of New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 in 1940. In 1946, Penzias became a naturalized citizen of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School

Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech or just Tech, and also administratively as High School 430, is a New York City public high school that specializes in engineering, math and science and is the largest specialized high school for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United State...
 in 1951 and received a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years....
 from the City College of New York
City College of New York

The City College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York, in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning....
 in 1954. From Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, he received his Master's degree
Master's degree

A master's degree provides a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of profession. Within the area studied, graduates possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theory and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, Critical thinking and/or professional application; and the ability to problem solving a...
 in 1958 and his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", is an postgraduate academic degree awarded by University....
 in 1962.

He went on to work at Bell Labs
Bell Labs

Bell Laboratories is the research organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities throughout the world....
 in Holmdel, New Jersey where, with Robert Woodrow Wilson
Robert Woodrow Wilson

Robert Woodrow Wilson is an United States astronomer, Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in physics, who with Arno Allan Penzias discovered in 1964 the cosmic microwave background radiation ....
, he worked on ultra-sensitive cryogenic microwave Receiver/ receivers intended for radio astronomy observations. In 1964, on building their most sensitive antenna/receiver system
Horn Antenna

The Horn Antenna, at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, is listed as a National Historic Landmark because of its association with the research work of two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson....
, the pair encountered radio noise which they could not explain. It was far less energetic than the radiation given off by the Milky Way
Milky Way

The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
, and it was isotropic, so they assumed their instrument was subject to interference by terrestrial sources. They tried, and then rejected, the hypothesis that the radio noise emanated from New York City. An examination of the microwave horn antenna
Horn Antenna

The Horn Antenna, at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, is listed as a National Historic Landmark because of its association with the research work of two radio astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson....
 showed it was full of pigeon droppings (which Penzias described as "white dielectric
Dielectric

A dielectric is a nonconducting substance, i.e. an Insulator . The term was coined by William Whewell in response to a request from Michael Faraday....
 material"). After the pair removed the guano buildup, and the pigeons were shot (each physicist says the other ordered the deed), the noise remained. Having rejected all sources of interference, the pair published a paper announcing their findings. This was later identified as the cosmic microwave background radiation
Cosmic microwave background radiation

In physical cosmology, the cosmic microwave background radiation CMB is a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies is pitch black....
 (CMB), the radio remnant of the Big Bang
Big Bang

The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
. This allowed astronomers to confirm the Big Bang, and to correct many of their previous assumptions about it.

Penzias and Wilson received the 1978 Nobel Prize, sharing it with Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa (Kapitsa's work was unrelated to Penzias and Wilson's). The two had received the Henry Draper Medal
Henry Draper Medal

The Henry Draper Medal was established by the widow of Henry Draper, and is awarded by the U.S. United States National Academy of Sciences for contributions to astrophysics....
 the previous year. Penzias is also the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

Penzias has been a resident of Highland Park, New Jersey
Highland Park, New Jersey

Highland Park is a Borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 13,999....
. He currently serves as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates
New Enterprise Associates

New Enterprise Associates based in Baltimore, Maryland is one of the world's leading venture capital firms focused on information technology and healthcare investments....
.

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