Arno Allan Penzias

German-born American physicist · Germany · Scientists · Lived 1933 to 2024 · aged 90

Arno Allan Penzias is read about 97 times a day, in 78 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 27 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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He found the echo of the Big Bang by accident - static that turned out to be light from the universe's first moments, still traveling through space 13 billion years later.

Scientists Scientist Astronomy Physics Germany Europe 20th Century

A life in dates

2024Died22 January 20242005“I was born in Munich, Germany, in 1933. I spent the first six years of my life comfortably, as an adored child in a closely-knit middle-class family.”In their wordsJune 2005Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005)Read the whole statement

“After a painful but largely successful struggle with courses and qualifying exams, I began my thesis work under Professor Townes.”In their wordsJune 2005Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005)Read the whole statement

“In retrospect, the research organization which emerged from the decade following the Bell System’s breakup deployed a far richer set of capabilities than its predecessor.”In their wordsJune 2005Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005)Read the whole statement

1999“Astronomy leads us to an unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life.”In their wordsAs quoted in "The Designed 'Just-so' Universe" (1999) by Walter L. BradleyRead the whole statement

1998IRI MedalAward1995“The Bible talks of purposeful creation. What we have, however, is an amazing amount of order; and when we see order, in our experience it normally reflects purpose.”In their wordsAs quoted in The Voice of Genius : Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries (1995) by Denis BrianRead the whole statement

1991Harold Pender AwardAward1990George E. Pake PrizeAward1983Karl G. Jansky LectureshipAward1978“A closed universe, one that explodes, expands, falls back on itself and explodes again, repeating the process over and over eternally, that would be a pointless universe.”In their words12 March 1978As quoted in "Clues to Universe Origin Expected" by Malcolm W. Browne, in The New York Times (12 March 1978); the final sentence of thisRead the whole statement

Nobel Prize in PhysicsAward1977Henry Draper MedalAwardHerschel MedalAward1976Honorary Doctorate of Paris Observatory, PSL UniversityAward1975Fellow of the American Physical SocietyAward1933Born26 April 1933

Also in Deutsch

Photos 7

32. Tagung 1982 Physiker; Beim Studentenabend Arno A. Penzias - W134Nr.119142 - Willy Pragher (cropped)

32. Tagung 1982 Physiker; Beim Studentenabend am Tisch Arno A. Penzias, Frau Penzias - W134Nr.119136 - Willy Pragher

32. Tagung 1982 Physiker; Beim Studentenabend Arno A. Penzias - W134Nr.119142 - Willy Pragher

32. Tagung 1982 Physiker; Mainau Ivar Giaever, Brian D. Josephson, Arno A. Penzias, Steven Weinberg - W134Nr.119177 - Willy Pragher

Arno Penzias

Horn Antenna-in Holmdel, New Jersey - restoration1

Horn Antenna-in Holmdel, New Jersey

In their own words 8

Arno Allan Penzias

8 statements, newest first

I was born in Munich, Germany, in 1933. I spent the first six years of my life comfortably, as an adored child in a closely-knit middle-class family.
Jun 2005, Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005), Own words
It was taken for granted that I would go to college, studying science, presumably chemistry, the only science we knew much about.
Jun 2005, Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005), Own words
After a painful but largely successful struggle with courses and qualifying exams, I began my thesis work under Professor Townes.
Jun 2005, Autobiographical notes at Nobelprize.org (June 2005), Own words

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Awards

IRI Medal1998

Harold Pender Award1991

George E. Pake Prize1990

Karl G. Jansky Lectureship1983

Nobel Prize in Physics1978

Henry Draper Medal1977

Herschel Medal1977

Honorary Doctorate of Paris Observatory, PSL University1976

Fellow of the American Physical Society1975

Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

About this person

Arno Allan Penzias was born April 26, 1933, and became a physicist and radio astronomer working with sensitive instruments meant to pick up faint signals from space. In 1978, he and Robert Woodrow Wilson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering cosmic microwave background radiation - the afterglow of the universe's birth, a faint hum filling every corner of the sky. What they'd stumbled on while troubleshooting interference became the strongest evidence for the Big Bang, rewriting cosmology. He died January 22, 2024.

Country

Germany

In common with Arno

Robert Woodrow WilsonBoth received Henry Draper Medal

Charles H. TownesBoth received Karl G. Jansky Lectureship

Michel MayorBoth received Honorary Doctorate of Paris Observatory, PSL University

Martin RyleBoth received Henry Draper Medal

Jocelyn Bell BurnellBoth received Herschel Medal

Hendrik CasimirBoth received George E. Pake Prize

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