Smoots cousin, Oliver R. Smoot, also studied at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and was made famous for the Smoot measurement of the Harvard Bridge between Cambridge and Boston. The "Smoot" length was marked in paint over 360 times on the bridge and is repainted there every year. Oliver later worked as the Chairman of the American National Standards Institute.
Professor Smoot began to study cosmology, and went to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he worked with Luis Walter Alvarez on the experiment HAPPE, a high up weather balloon for detecting antimatter in the upper atmosphere.
He then took up an interest in the microwaves in cosmic radiation which had been discovered by Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson in 1964. This work gave new evidence of what the universe is made of. Some researchers thought that the universe was rotating, which would mean that temperature of microwaves would seem different when measured from different angles. With the help of Alvarez and Richard A. Muller, Professor Smoot developed a radiometer to measure the difference in temperature from two angles 60 degrees apart. The radiometer was put on top of a Lockheed U-2 plane, but the measurements seemed to show that the universe was not rotating. It did, however, detect another difference in the microwave temperature on one side of the sky. They called this a dipole pattern and a Doppler effect of the Earth's motion. A doppler effect happens because the Sun, and the Milky Way are moving at nearly 600 km/s. They think this is caused by gravity from the Great Attractor.
The measurements from the radiometer showed that one side of the sky was different to the other but this was surprising because it was expected that many differences would be found all over the sky. Smoot was working on finding these smaller differences in the late 1970s when he gave NASA an idea to make a satellite with a detector that was similar to the one mounted on the Lockheed aeroplane. This detector would be much more powerful and it would not be affected by the atmosphere. NASA spent US$160  million on the satellite and named it the COBE. The COBE satellite was delayed after the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed, but was launched successfully on November 18, 1989. After more than two years, on 21 April 1992, the COBE research team claimed that the satellite had detected the small differences they were looking for. This was very important in the study of the early universe. The study was "evidence for the birth of the universe". Professor Smoot said: "If you're religious, it's like looking at God."
More than 1,000 researchers, engineers and other workers helped to make the COBE. John Mather was in control of the whole project and the experiments that made the COBE possible. George Smoot was in control of measuring the small differences in the temperature of the radiation.
Smoot worked with the "San Francisco Chronicle"s journalist, Keay Davidson, to write a book called "Wrinkles in Time", all about the team's work. In the book "The Very First Light", John Mather and John Boslough write more of the COBE story. Mathers book says that Professor Smoot was giving news of COBE to the press before NASA did. This made problems between Smoot and Mather in the past.
After COBE, Smoot helped with another experiment with a stratospheric balloon called the MAXIMA experiment. This ballon took some better measurements than the COBE. Smoot has continued studying cosmic radiatin and now works on the third generation COBE satellite Planck. He is also working on the design of a Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP), a satellite which is to measure dark energy. He has also assisted in analyzing data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in connection with measuring far infrared background radiation.
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band. They began in Seattle, Washington, in 1984.
Soundgarden helped create the sound of grunge music. This is a genre of alternative rock that first became popular in Seattle. They were first signed to a local record label Sub Pop. Later, they were the first grunge band to sign to a major label, A&M Records, in 1988.
Soundgarden became well-known with the 1994 album "Superunknown". It debuted at number one on the "Billboard" charts. Two singles won Grammy Awards; "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman". VH1 has ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
In 1997, the band broke up because they could no longer agree on the sound of their musical future. The members worked on other projects for more than ten years. Soundgarden got back together in 2010. Two years later, they released their sixth studio album, "King Animal".
On May 17, 2017, frontman Chris Cornell was found dead in his Detroit hotel room, the night after a concert at the city's Fox Theatre. Police are treating it as suspected suicide. Soundgarden will almost certainly not continue.
Soundgarden began in 1984. They first had three members: singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. The band named themselves after a wind-channeling pipe sculpture, "A Sound Garden". The art work is in Magnuson Park, in Seattle.
At first, Cornell played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band hired Scott Sundquist so that Cornell could just sing. The band's first recordings were three songs on a compilation album for C/Z Records named "Deep Six". Also appearing on the album were early grunge artists Green River, Skin Yard, Malfunkshun, The U-Men and the Melvins. In 1986, Sundquist left the band. He was replaced by Matt Cameron, who had been the drummer for Skin Yard.
A Seattle radio staion DJ, Jonathan Poneman, liked Soundgarden after seeing them perform. He later said, "I saw this band that was everything rock music should be". Poneman offered to pay for a record to be made by the band. Teaming up with Bruce Pavitt, Poneman also contributed $20,000 to the financially struggling Sub Pop. This helped turn Sup Pop into a popular, successful record label that attracted more success with grunge bands. Sub Pop then released Soundgarden's "Screaming Life" EP in 1987, and the "Fopp" EP in 1988. A combination of the two was issued as "Screaming Life/Fopp" in 1990.
Though major labels were asking Soundgarden to sign with them, in 1988 the band chose a small independent label, SST Records. SST released their debut album, "Ultramega OK". The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1990.
The band's first music video, "Flower", became popular; airing regularly on MTV's "120 Minutes". In 1989, Soundgarden promoted "Ultramega OK" with a tour of the United States and then went to Europe. This was their first overseas tour.
In 1989, Soundgarden released their first album for a major label, A&M Records. "Louder Than Love" became the band's first to chart on the "Billboard" 200. It reached number 108 on the chart in 1990. The band supported the album with tours of North America and Europe.
A month before touring for "Louder Than Love" began, bassist Hiro Yamamoto left to go back to college. Yamamoto was unhappy because he felt he was not important enough to the band. Former Nirvana bassist Jason Everman took his place for the tour. Everman was fired immediately after Soundgarden got back from Europe in mid-1990. An EP "Loudest Love" and the video compilation "Louder Than Live", were both released in 1990. The video shows five live tracks made during the "Louder Than Love" tour.
Bassist Ben Shepherd joined Soundgarden in 1990. Their next album, "Badmotorfinger" was released in 1991. It had some success, reaching number 39 on the album charts. But it got less attention because of the surprise success of Nirvana's "Nevermind", released the same month as Badmotorfinger. Two singles got popular airplay on alternative radio stations and MTV.