A Cautionary Science Tale: BICEP2 and the Perils of the Nobel Prize

Deep Astronomy

Remember all the commotion about the BICEP2 mission back in 2014? Cosmologist had announced the observation of polarized "B-mode" waves that, if connected to the universal cosmic microwave background, would lend credence and observational support to the Inflationary Theory of Cosmology, this period just after the Big Bang when astronomers think the universe expanded exponentially and faster than light.

The story made the front page of the New York Times and we were hearing about it everywhere. While I doubt that very many people understood what was being said, clearly something big was happening and so everyone paid attention. Dr. Brian Keating from USCD was a member of the BICEP2 team and talks about that time with me along with other really interesting goings-on in the world of science, including whether having something like the Nobel Prize is hurting science.

Brian Keating's Book: "Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition and the Peril of Science's Highest Honor" is available on the Deep Astronomy Amazon Page here:

https://amzn.to/2JHl7W4