WASHINGTON—Dr. John Mather, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2006, tells The Epoch Times that a person does not need to be a genius to do well in science. Instead of IQ, he emphasized the importance of curiosity and persistence.
Mather received the Nobel Prize on his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite, an experiment that contributed to the rise in status of the Big Bang theory.
At the USA Science & Engineering Festival, Mather spoke to an audience in a tent on the National Mall at an event, called “Because Dreams Need Doing: USA Science and Engineering Festival,” host by the Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences.
NPR’s Joe Palca asked Mather if people ever ask him what there was before the big bang.
“People always ask me what was there before the big bang ... 20 years ago we would have said, ‘nothing’: we know that the universe started off with a single event,” he replied. “Nowadays we don’t know that anymore ...”
He continued, “Maybe there are a million universes out there ... We’re going to be guessing on a lot of stuff for a long time ... Right now that’s what we got: various forms of the big bang.”
Responding to a question from the audience, Palca elaborated on a question: While there are people without jobs and food, why should the US fund research on blackbody radiation?
Mather answered, “Personally, I see a lot of people that are excited about this. The public cares how we got here ... It’s a choice that we can make as a nation to pursue something that’s wonderful as well.”
Relating to the accomplishments by the United States in the past of sending a man on the moon, Mather said, “If we focus our attention, we can do a lot of additional things.”
Mather is also the senior project scientist for the James Web Space Telescope, which is planned successor to the Hubble.
