Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Charles L. Bennett of Johns Hopkins University has been named a recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work that established the Standard Model of Cosmology - a precise physics-based description of the contents, dynamics, and shape of the universe. Bennett was the leader of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) space mission. The entire mission Science Team will share the $3 million prize.
Bennett will receive the award, the most lucrative prize in science, at a black-tie ceremony on Sunday night in Palo Alto, California that will unfold less like a typical science awards event and a bit more like the Academy Awards, including a red carpet entrance and celebrities including actor Morgan Freeman, actress Kerry Washington and filmmaker Ron Howard.
The Hollywood touch in the ceremony is part of an effort to draw public interest to science by the Breakthrough Prize, which was established by, among others, the founders of Google and Facebook. Bennett said he’s all for that, especially if it encourages young people to pursue science, even if the ceremony will be out of his usual experience.
“It’s been a long time since I chatted with Ron Howard - as in never,” said Bennett. “It’s so overwhelming.”
Using WMAP, a NASA project that launched in 2001 and switched off in 2010, Bennett and his team provided the first-ever, detailed, full-sky, “baby picture” of the universe when it was only 380,000 years old. The patterns in this picture provided precise answers to many longstanding questions about our universe.
“The WMAP mission took us far beyond our physical reach. By carefully measuring the oldest light in the universe we determined the key properties of our universe,” Bennett said. “We are humbled but pleased that our research has been recognized by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.”