May 2002

From National Science Foundation

Astronomers to present new findings on early universe at NSF press conference

Leading astronomers will present new findings on the content and structure of the early universe at a National Science Foundation press conference May 23. Alan Guth of MIT, who originated the inflation theory, will participate.

The press conference will focus on images from the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI), an interferometer that detects the cosmic microwave background--the radiation that began its journey to Earth shortly after the Big Bang. CBI is located at 16,000 feet in the Atacama Desert of Chile, one of the driest on Earth. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and California Institute of Technology.

The press conference will include a discussion of how cosmic microwave background observations are helping to test cosmological theories and determine parameters such as the amount of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.

Who:Anthony Readhead- Rawn Professor of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
Alan Guth - Weisskopf Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Other participants to be announced
What:Press Conference on Cosmic Background Imager Findings
When:May 23, 2002, 11:00 a.m. EDT
Where:     National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA (Ballston Metro Stop)
Check in at security desk, 9th & Stuart entrance

NOTE: Access to NSF must be pre-arranged. Reporters unable to attend are invited to participate by phone and can obtain embargoed materials in advance. Call for details.

For more information or to register, contact:

Amber Jones, NSF (703) 292-8070/[email protected]
Robert Tindol, Caltech (626) 395-3631/[email protected]
* For directions, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/visit/visitjump.htm



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