The State - News from July 15, 1985

The most convincing evidence to date that the universe was born with a “big bang” has been found in microwave radiation in space, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, reported. In analyzing measurements taken from a helium balloon 24 miles above Earth, the physicists found relatively short wavelengths of cosmic background radiation that closely fit the spectrum of light that would remain from an explosive creation about 20 billion years ago. “We think we’re measuring light that has been undisturbed since a very early epoch in the evolution of the universe,” said Paul Richards, professor of physics at UC Berkeley. He and colleagues from UC Berkeley, Princeton University and McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, reported their findings in the current issue of Physical Review Letters.