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Lyman Page

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Lyman A. Page Jr.
Lyman in 2005
Born
Lyman Alexander Page, Jr.[3]

(1957-09-24) September 24, 1957 (age 67)[4]
NationalityAmerican
EducationBowdoin College (BA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Known forCo-leading the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe project
SpouseElizabeth Olson[5]
Children3
AwardsMarc Aaronson Memorial Lectureship
Shaw Prize in Astronomy
Gruber Prize in Cosmology
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics[1]
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsPrinceton University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bartol Research Foundation
ThesisA measurement of the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy (1989)
Doctoral advisorStephan S. Meyer [2]

Lyman Alexander Page, Jr. (born September 24, 1957) is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He is an expert in observational cosmology and one of the original co-investigators for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project that made precise observations of the electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang, known as cosmic microwave background radiation.[6]

Early life and education

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Page was born in San Francisco[5] in 1957, and moved through Virginia and New Hampshire with his parents, eventually settling in Maine. His father was a pediatrician and his mother an artist.[7] He has a younger brother and sister. He became interested in physics at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, where he did his undergraduate studies, after a course taught by Elroy O. LaCasce. He worked on the Mach’s principle for a course project and was drawn to cosmology.[5] Page graduated with a BA in Physics in 1978.[3]

Page then became a research technician for 15 months at the Bartol Research Foundation (now Bartol Research Institute), being stationed at the McMurdo Station in the Antarctica and operating a cosmic ray station.[5][8] Returning to the United States, he bought and rebuilt a sailboat, and started sailing around the East Coast and the Caribbean for 2.5 years.[8] He intermittently worked onshore in carpentry, rigging and other kinds of boat service, until he survived a storm near Venezuela, after which he decided to pursue graduate studies.[5] Rainer Weiss from the Department of Physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to let Page work in his lab, albeit without pay, so Page worked as carpenter in the day and at Weiss's lab at night.[5] Eventually in 1983, Page began his PhD study at the MIT under the supervision of Stephan S. Meyer, completing 6 years later.[3]

Scientific career

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After his PhD, Page stayed at MIT as a postdoctoral researcher, and joined the Department of Physics of Princeton University in 1990, first as an instructor, and then promoted to assistant professor 1 year later and associate professor in 1995.[3] He became a full professor in 1998.[3] Since 2005, he has been successively appointed to different endowed professorships, including the Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics (2005-2014), the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Chair of Physics (2014-2015) and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics (since 2015).[9]

Between 2011 and 2017, Page was the chair, or Head, of the Department of Physics of Princeton University.[3]

Page was the founding director of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope project from 2004 to 2014.[10] Currently, he is a member of the executive board of the Simons Observatory,[11] an Advisor for Gravity and the Extreme Universe at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research,[12] and serves on the board of directors of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.[13]

Research

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Page's research centers around Cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is the electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang. In 1991, Page, together with David Todd Wilkinson, Norman Jarosik and Edward J. Wollack, conceived of a satellite designed to specifically detect CMB.[5] They eventually partnered with Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Los Angeles, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and other institutions,[14] and the effort became the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project, which was named in honor of Wilkinson.[15] The satellite was launched in 2001. Since CMB comes from a time when the universe began, WMAP enables the study of the universe's early history, including its expansion, as well as its composition.[16]

Personal life

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Page met his wife, Elizabeth Olson, during his PhD years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Olson is a biophysics professor at Columbia University. They have three boys.[5][17]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "Lyman Page, Jr. and the WMAP Science Team". Breakthrough Prize. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  2. ^ "Lyman Alexander Page". INSPIRE-HEP. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Lyman Alexander Page Jr" (PDF). Princeton University. May 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  4. ^ "Lyman A. Page". American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Autobiography of Lyman A Page Jr". Shaw Prize Foundation. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  6. ^ "Lyman Page". American Physical Society. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  7. ^ "InterViews: Lyman Page". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Даулетбек, Кайсар (October 12, 2020). "From a sailor to the Breakthrough Prize winner: Interview with Doctor Lyman Page". the-steppe.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  9. ^ "CURRICULUM VITAE LYMAN ALEXANDER PAGE JR" (PDF). Princeton University. September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  10. ^ "New view of nature's oldest light adds fresh twist to debate over universe's age". Princeton University. July 15, 2020. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  11. ^ "Executive Board". Simons Observatory. February 28, 2020. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  12. ^ "Lyman Page". Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  13. ^ "Lyman A. Page Jr., Ph.D." Research Corporation. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  14. ^ "WMAP Institutions". Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  15. ^ "Lyman A. Page Jr". Department of Physics, Princeton University. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  16. ^ Pearson, Ezzy (June 15, 2021). "WMAP: the NASA mission that mapped the cosmic microwave background". BBC Sky at Night. London. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  17. ^ "Elizabeth S. Olson, PhD". Columbia University. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  18. ^ "Aaronson Lectureship". University of Arizona. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  19. ^ "Lyman Alexander Page". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  20. ^ "Lyman A. Page, Jr". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  21. ^ "Press Release" (Press release). Hong Kong: Shaw Prize Foundation. May 27, 2010. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  22. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  23. ^ "Lyman A. Page, Jr". Gruber Foundation. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  24. ^ "Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Laureates 2018". Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  25. ^ "Professor LYMAN PAGE" (PDF). International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
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