>> Reporter: FOR "SUNDAY TODAY,"
HARRY SMITH, NEW YORK P.M.
>> HARRY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
>>> THIS WEEK WE HIGHLIGHT
ANOTHER LIFE WELL LIVED.
ON MAY 20th, 1964, TWO YOUNG
PHYSICISTS AT AT&T’S BELL
LABORATORIES IN NEW JERSEY WERE
STUDYING THE MILKY WAY WITH THE
COMPANY’S GIANT RADIO ANTENNA
WHEN THEY MADE A SURPRISE
DISCOVERY THAT WOULD CHANGE OUR
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGINS OF
THE UNIVERSE.
DR. ARNO PENZIAS AND HIS
COLLEAGUE, DR. ROBERT WILSON,
PICKED UP THE HUM OF MICROWAVE
RADIATION EVERYWHERE IN THE SKY.
AFTER CONSIDERING THEORIES ABOUT
BIRDS, RADIO TRAFFIC FROM NEARBY
NEW YORK CITY, AND A NUCLEAR
BOMB TEST ACROSS THE COUNTRY,
THEY CONCLUDED THEY HAD FOUND
REMNANTS OF AN EXPLOSION KNOWN
AS THE BIG BANG.
THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND
RADIATION WAS LEFT BEHIND NEARLY
14 BILLION YEARS EARLIER AND
PROOF OF ITS EXISTENCE SETTLED A
LONG SCIENTIFIC DEBATE HOW THE
UNIVERSE WAS BORN.
DOCTORS PENZIAS AND WILSON
SHARED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR THEIR
DISCOVERY.
ARNO PENZIAS WAS BORN IN MUNICH
TO A JEWISH FAMILY JUST AS THE
NAZIS WERE RISE TO GO POWER.
IN 1939, 6-YEAR-OLD ARNO AND HIS
YOUNGER BROTHER GUNTER WERE
EVACUATED TO ENGLAND BY THEIR
PARENTS WHO PUT THEIR SONS ON A
TRAIN, EACH WITH A SUITCASE AND
A BOX OF CHOCOLATES.
THE FAMILY SURVIVED, LATER
REUNITING AND MOVING TO NEW
YORK.
PENZIAS EARNED A DOCTORATE IN
PHYSICS FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
AND SERVED AS A RADAR OFFICER
BEFORE JOINING BELL LABS WHERE
HE MADE HIS HISTORIC DISCOVERY.
DR. ARNO PENZIAS, NOBEL PRIZE
WINNING PHYSICIST WHO FOUND
EVIDENCE OF THE BIG BANG, DIED
ON MONDAY IN SAN FRANCISCO. HE WAS 90 YEARS OLD.