Episode 46
The Quest for the Nobel | Cosmology, Physics, and the Search for the Origins of the Universe | Brian Keating
Episode 46
Brian Keating
The Quest for the Nobel | Cosmology, Physics, and the Search for the Origins of the Universe | Brian Keating
summary
When we think about competition, we don’t typically think about scientists. Instead of seeing these individuals as adversaries competing for fickle prizes or glory, we see them as impartial explorers of the cosmos. We see them as the selfless gatekeepers of knowledge. This view, as we are coming to learn, is more than a little askew.
The darker sides of science — the prejudices and egos and dubious incentives — are realities that we are forced to face almost as soon as we start investigating what it is that drives scientists in their pursuits.
And they are realities that Brian Keating knows all too well.
Keating is an astrophysicist at UC San Diego’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. He is also the author of Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor and is credited as being the driving force behind BICEP2, the most powerful cosmology telescope ever made. BICEP2 was tasked with answering some of the biggest questions in physics, such as how our cosmos came to be and what the universe was like at the beginning of time. Specifically, the telescope was created to detect the unique B-mode polarization signature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a byproduct of the cosmos’ first moments of expansion.
For a time, Keating and his team believed they had detected this signature. The work almost won Keating the Nobel Prize in Physics. Almost.
In this episode, Keating joins host Demetri Kofinas to walk us through the history of experimental cosmology and trace its course to modern science. He starts with an examination of the early geocentric models of the universe and shows how the scientific revolution, and the introduction of empiricism, altered the course of history and set us on the path to modern physics. The episode culminates with a discussion of what it is that drives scientists in their pursuits. From wealth to fame, from a genuine desire to understand the origins of the cosmos to an egotistical desire to wage war on religion, Keating outlines some of the most remarkable discoveries in physics and how biases and incentives are slowing innovation and shredding the fabric of modern science.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Brian Keating is an astrophysicist with UC San Diego’s Department of Physics. He and his team develop instrumentation to study the early universe at radio, microwave and infrared wavelengths. He is the author of over 100 scientific publications and holds two U.S.Patents. He received an NSF CAREER award in 2006 and a 2007 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at the White House from President Bush for a telescope he invented and deployed at the U.S. South Pole Research Station called “BICEP”.
Professor Keating became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2016. He co-leads the Simons Observatory Cosmic Microwave Background experiments in the Atacama Desert of Chile, and is the author of Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor, selected as one of Amazon.com’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Month and one of Nature Magazine’s Six Best Books of the Season.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Portenta haec esse dicit, neque ea ratione ullo modo posse vivi; An tu me de L. At miser, si in flagitiosa et vitiosa vita afflueret voluptatibus. Cum autem negant ea quicquam ad beatam vitam pertinere, rursus naturam relinquunt. Moriatur, inquit. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quae autem natura suae primae institutionis oblita est? Aliter homines, aliter philosophos loqui putas oportere? Primum in nostrane potestate est, quid meminerimus?
Omnia peccata paria dicitis. Quid dubitas igitur mutare principia naturae? Quam nemo umquam voluptatem appellavit, appellat; Cur igitur easdem res, inquam, Peripateticis dicentibus verbum nullum est, quod non intellegatur? Si longus, levis; Habent enim et bene longam et satis litigiosam disputationem.
Si enim ad populum me vocas, eum. Multa sunt dicta ab antiquis de contemnendis ac despiciendis rebus humanis; Nondum autem explanatum satis, erat, quid maxime natura vellet. Sed tempus est, si videtur, et recta quidem ad me. Qui est in parvis malis. Tria genera bonorum;
Expressa vero in iis aetatibus, quae iam confirmatae sunt. Eaedem res maneant alio modo. Utinam quidem dicerent alium alio beatiorem! Iam ruinas videres. Quae iam oratio non a philosopho aliquo, sed a censore opprimenda est.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullus est igitur cuiusquam dies natalis. Homines optimi non intellegunt totam rationem everti, si ita res se habeat. Verba tu fingas et ea dicas, quae non sentias? Nihil ad rem! Ne sit sane;
Aliter homines, aliter philosophos loqui putas oportere? Itaque hic ipse iam pridem est reiectus; Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. Verum hoc loco sumo verbis his eandem certe vim voluptatis Epicurum nosse quam ceteros. Atqui haec patefactio quasi rerum opertarum, cum quid quidque sit aperitur, definitio est. Vide igitur ne non debeas verbis nostris uti, sententiis tuis. Uterque enim summo bono fruitur, id est voluptate. Ratio enim nostra consentit, pugnat oratio. Expressa vero in iis aetatibus, quae iam confirmatae sunt. Bonum integritas corporis: misera debilitas.
Non igitur de improbo, sed de callido improbo quaerimus, qualis Q. Verba tu fingas et ea dicas, quae non sentias? Quid autem habent admirationis, cum prope accesseris? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Dici enim nihil potest verius. Nam si amitti vita beata potest, beata esse non potest. Quod cum accidisset ut alter alterum necopinato videremus, surrexit statim. Eadem nunc mea adversum te oratio est.
Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Quid turpius quam sapientis vitam ex insipientium sermone pendere? Sed ille, ut dixi, vitiose. Inde sermone vario sex illa a Dipylo stadia confecimus. Hoc loco tenere se Triarius non potuit. Sed quot homines, tot sententiae; Nam et complectitur verbis, quod vult, et dicit plane, quod intellegam; Nam Pyrrho, Aristo, Erillus iam diu abiecti.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliter enim nosmet ipsos nosse non possumus. Utilitatis causa amicitia est quaesita. Nam memini etiam quae nolo, oblivisci non possum quae volo. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Cum salvum esse flentes sui respondissent, rogavit essentne fusi hostes. Obsecro, inquit, Torquate, haec dicit Epicurus? Ut proverbia non nulla veriora sint quam vestra dogmata. Sit, inquam, tam facilis, quam vultis, comparatio voluptatis, quid de dolore dicemus?
Eam tum adesse, cum dolor omnis absit; In qua quid est boni praeter summam voluptatem, et eam sempiternam? Habent enim et bene longam et satis litigiosam disputationem. Quicquid porro animo cernimus, id omne oritur a sensibus;
Re mihi non aeque satisfacit, et quidem locis pluribus. Iam doloris medicamenta illa Epicurea tamquam de narthecio proment: Si gravis, brevis; Hoc enim identidem dicitis, non intellegere nos quam dicatis voluptatem. Ergo, si semel tristior effectus est, hilara vita amissa est? Mihi vero, inquit, placet agi subtilius et, ut ipse dixisti, pressius.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere. Sed quanta sit alias, nunc tantum possitne esse tanta. Praeclare hoc quidem. Videmus igitur ut conquiescere ne infantes quidem possint. Tamen aberramus a proposito, et, ne longius, prorsus, inquam, Piso, si ista mala sunt, placet. Qua tu etiam inprudens utebare non numquam. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Rapior illuc, revocat autem Antiochus, nec est praeterea, quem audiamus. Nihil enim iam habes, quod ad corpus referas; Et quod est munus, quod opus sapientiae?
Sic enim maiores nostri labores non fugiendos tristissimo tamen verbo aerumnas etiam in deo nominaverunt. Dicimus aliquem hilare vivere; Superiores tres erant, quae esse possent, quarum est una sola defensa, eaque vehementer. Sin aliud quid voles, postea. Ita multa dicunt, quae vix intellegam. Causa autem fuit huc veniendi ut quosdam hinc libros promerem.
Confecta res esset. Consequens enim est et post oritur, ut dixi. Quae cum ita sint, effectum est nihil esse malum, quod turpe non sit. Nam, ut paulo ante docui, augendae voluptatis finis est doloris omnis amotio. Sed tu istuc dixti bene Latine, parum plane. An eiusdem modi? Quod autem satis est, eo quicquid accessit, nimium est; Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus.
Quod autem in homine praestantissimum atque optimum est, id deseruit. Ut proverbia non nulla veriora sint quam vestra dogmata. In quibus doctissimi illi veteres inesse quiddam caeleste et divinum putaverunt. Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Ut optime, secundum naturam affectum esse possit. Cur tantas regiones barbarorum pedibus obiit, tot maria transmisit? Huius ego nunc auctoritatem sequens idem faciam. Hoc non est positum in nostra actione.