A central part of my research career was the development and launch of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite in 1989. As a member of the COBE Science Team, I was able to play a key role in the exciting COBE results. I was most closely associated with the first detection of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation—the afterglow from the Big Bang. This first detection of fluctuations was a watershed event in cosmology, providing strong direct support for the notion that galaxies formed as a result of gravitational instabilities in the early universe. The COBE observations also led the Science Team to report a precision measurement of the spectrum of the cosmic background radiation, which helped confirm the simplest version of the Big Bang theory and ruled out all cosmologies that involved the release of large amounts of energy in the early universe.

Many areas of modern scientific research require significant resources in the forms of funding, talented people, and facilities. The COBE satellite was a classic example of this. The COBE satellite and all three of its instruments were built at the Goddard Space Flight Center. COBE required the use of Goddard's extensive facilities and professional staff. It also required considerable funding. This was all made possible by the steadfast support of the scientific community and NASA Headquarters. The experience, expertise, and dedication of the COBE Science Team were especially crucial.

Once COBE detected the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation for the first time, there was an immediate recognition in the scientific community that a follow-up space mission was necessary to map the fluctuations over the full sky with higher sensitivity and spatial resolution. I led a group that proposed to NASA a Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) mission to follow up on the COBE results. This proposal was accepted in 1996 and the MAP Observatory is now (in 2000) fully built and in test and preparation for a launch in 2001. The MAP observations will be another watershed in cosmology, allowing an accurate and precise characterization of the fluctuations to reveal the history, future, shape, and content of our universe.

Most things worth doing are not easy. There are often many frustrations and stumbling blocks on the way to success. This is especially true in the building of space missions. For example, when the space shuttle blew up, beyond being a disaster for NASA and the nation, it took away the prospect that the COBE mission would ever be launched on a shuttle. The reaction to this required quick thinking and hard work for the COBE Team to convert the already-built COBE shuttle payload to a new COBE that was launched on a Delta rocket. Likewise, there have been many trying challenges in the development of MAP, although thankfully none so dramatic.

The professional achievements that have brought me the most satisfaction are my successful COBE and MAP work. The long, hard hours building, testing, launching, flying, analyzing data, and publishing scientific results from COBE were very satisfying. One might normally have considered it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if it were not for the fact that I have been blessed with the opportunity for a repeat performance with MAP.

Aside from your scientific career, what is your greatest or most compelling ambition in life?

I have two compelling ambitions in life. One is to be a good husband, father, and son. The other is to try to better understand the laws of physics and how our universe works. Probably every student of physics is amazed at some point at the simplicity and beauty of the laws of physics. This happens to the extent that "beautiful" or "ugly" are even commonly used expressions as a sort of test of whether a theory might be right or wrong. Today we have a theory of gravity that is inconsistent with the rest of physics. It needs to be unified. We think the universe is dominated by a type of matter that we haven't identified. There is a current belief that a "dark energy" may dominate the universe, despite being ill-motivated and "ugly." There is a lot to do and a lot to sort out. I would love to see the field progress, often led by bright young minds, and live long enough to hear some of the answers!

Dr. Charles L. Bennett
NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center
Infrared Astrophysics Branch
Lab for Astronomy & Solar Physics
Greenbelt, MD, USA