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Nancy Neal
Headquarters, Washington      February 11, 2003
(Phone: 202-358-2369)

RELEASE: 03-056

NASA NAMES SATELLITE IN HONOR OF PIONEER RESEARCHER

     NASA renamed an orbiting satellite, called the Microwave 
Anisotropy Probe, in honor of David T. Wilkinson, a pioneer in physics 
and cosmology, who died in September 2002.

The re-christened Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 
launched in June 2001, observes the oldest light in the universe, 
called the cosmic microwave background (CMB).  Patterns imprinted in 
this light, approximately 400,000 years after the big bang, reveal 
details about the age of the universe, the era of first starlight, and 
other key properties.

Wilkinson, a professor at Princeton University, N.J., was instrumental 
in defining CMB research from the days of its discovery in 1964 to his 
work as the WMAP Instrument Scientist, 38 years later. Both WMAP and 
its predecessor, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), owe their 
existence in no small part to Wilkinson, whose decades' long research,
enthusiasm, and tireless efforts played a major role in bringing these 
missions to life.

"Dave was a man of great integrity, an outstanding scientist, and a 
wonderful colleague," said Dr. Charles L. Bennett, WMAP Principal 
Investigator from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, 
Md. "He loved to do science and he loved to teach science. As a 
teacher he was inspiring. As a scientist he set high standards and 
served as the conscience of the field," he said.

WMAP builds on the COBE legacy by measuring the tiny temperature 
fluctuations in the CMB with much higher resolution, sensitivity, and 
accuracy. The mission aims at understanding the most fundamental 
aspects of the universe that have given rise to the structure of 
galaxies observed on the largest scales.

In 1963, Wilkinson set out on a quest to find the predicted cosmic 
microwave background afterglow radiation from the big bang. As an 
assistant professor at Princeton in the early 1960s, Wilkinson and a 
colleague confirmed the 1964 discovery of the CMB by Arno Penzias and 
Robert Wilson of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Wilkinson continued 
on to make increasingly more impressive measurements that put the big 
bang theory and ideas about the evolution of the universe on solid 
ground.

Wilkinson served the Physics Department Chairman from 1987 to 1990. He 
loved to teach and was awarded the Princeton President's Award for 
Distinguished Teaching. Wilkinson, who dedicated his professional life 
to answering the most profound questions of our Universe, died on 
September 5, 2002, at the age of 67 after a long struggle with cancer.

For more information about NASA, visit us on the Internet at:
                      www.nasa.gov

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