Book dossier

The very first light

by John C. Mather, John Boslough

In 1990 and 1992, a NASA-led team of scientists from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) project changed the way we view the universe. They showed that microwave radiation that fills the universe has an exquisite perfection that proves it came from the Big Bang itself. Even more spectacularly, they found tiny variations in its brightness that come from quantum sound waves in that great explosion, primordial seeds that would nucleate the growth of galaxies and make our own existence possible. Their discoveries drew standing ovations from scientists and made headlines around the world. In this no-holds-barred account, COBE's Project Scientist and originator John C. Mather and science writer John Boslough furnish intimate and startling details. They tell of the discovery of the cosmic background radiation and of the subsequent fifteen-year struggle to design, build, and launch the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. An eye-opening, riveting account with rare narrative verve, The Very First Light tells the story of COBE from start to finish, including an unwelcome controversy when one team member breached the project's publication policy and stepped into the limelight alone.