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.
“So, Hubble is up there and it’s working. It was upgraded for the last time, apparently ... they say our telescope was too small and too warm. So, a bigger telescope that can receive more light and one that’s cool so that it can detect infrared will open up a new scientific frontier,” said Mather.
He explained that the telescope was named after James Web, an administrator of NASA who said to President Kennedy that “we know how to do this” in sending a man to the moon and back.
When Palca asked about the schedule for the launch, Mather replied that it’s planned for 2014, but “it’s probably not going to happen.” He also explained that the new telescope will be launched by a commercial vehicle from Europe.
In a private interview, Mather told the Epoch Times that several months ago, Larry Bock, the founder and director of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, called him and invited him to be on his scientific advisory panel, and Mather accepted.
“It’s a huge event, and it takes an immense amount of work to bring all of these people to do this. So, he’s the man. Larry Bock is the man behind it,” said Mather.
According to NASA’s website, Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where his research centers on infrared astronomy and cosmology.
The Epoch Times is a sponsor of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Visit usasciencefestival.org for details.
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