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Losing the Nobel Prize

A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science's Highest Honor

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Losing the Nobel Prize

Written by: Brian Keating
Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
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What would it have been like to be an eyewitness to the Big Bang? In 2014, astronomers wielding BICEP2, the most powerful cosmology telescope ever made, revealed that they'd glimpsed the spark that ignited the Big Bang. Millions around the world tuned in to the announcement broadcast live from Harvard University, immediately igniting rumors of an imminent Nobel Prize. But had these cosmologists truly read the cosmic prologue or, swept up in Nobel dreams, had they been deceived by a galactic mirage?

In Losing the Nobel Prize, cosmologist and inventor of the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) experiment Brian Keating tells the inside story of BICEP2's mesmerizing discovery and the scientific drama that ensued. In an adventure story that spans the globe from Rhode Island to the South Pole, from California to Chile, Keating takes us on a personal journey of revelation and discovery, bringing to vivid life the highly competitive, take-no-prisoners, publish-or-perish world of modern science. Along the way, he provocatively argues that the Nobel Prize, instead of advancing scientific progress, may actually hamper it, encouraging speed and greed while punishing collaboration and bold innovation.

©2018 Brian Keating (P)2018 Tantor Astronomy & Space Science Physics Science Astronomy Cosmology Mathematics Thought-Provoking Black Hole
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This is the story of the BICEP (1 and 2) effort to measure the possible effects of gravity waves on the cosmic microwave background. Whether such gravity waves resonated through the universe when those ancient photons were being emitted has profound implications for our understanding of how the universe came into being. They may even provide important evidence as to whether our universe is but one among many.

The science story itself is quite fascinating, but it is also interwoven with the personal story of the author along with the history, purpose and influence of the Nobel Prize. The author bravely and convincing makes the case that the Nobel committee needs to revise its policies and might even take a lesson from Hollywood's power brokers - within limits, of course.

The BICEP team infamously proclaimed success in finding what they wanted to find, but was shortly thereafter shown to have been misled by what has been the bane of astronomers since Galileo: dust. However, the lessons learned and shared by the author, from this and his personal story, are profound - and we would be wise to take heed.

Well written and wise!

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I really enjoyed the book. Now I do have an interest in astronomy and physics but understanding the controversy surrounding the Nobel and it’s politics and how that affects scientific progress was actually engaging. The narrator really helped with that. So glad Keating took time away from his scientific research to write about this.

Loved it. The narrator is excellent.

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