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
  • John Mather, Lead scientist on COBE Goddard Space Flight Center

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/aljones@nsf.gov

Robert Tindol, Caltech (626) 395-3631/tindol@caltech.edu

* For directions, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/visit/visitjump.htm