Peebles, P. J. E. (Phillip James Edwin)
Oral history interview with James Peebles, 2021 April 11.
Interview with James Peebles, Albert Einstein Professor of Science, Emeritus, at Princeton University. Peebles describes his enjoyment in pursuing the issues in cosmology that are most interesting to him in retirement and he explains his appreciation for the importance of taking a sociological perspective to science. He describes his first exposure to cosmology as a field to specialize in during graduate school and he surveys some of the experiments and observational advances that have propelled theoretical cosmology. Peebles recounts his childhood in Manitoba, and he discusses his undergraduate education at the University of Manitoba. He describes arriving at Princeton in 1958 and how he became a student of Bob Dicke's. Peebles discusses his thesis research on the possibility that the fine-structure constant might be evolving. He describes staying at (and never leaving) Princeton for his postdoctoral work, and some of the exciting promises of infrared astronomy and radio astronomy. Peebles conveys the simple process of joining the faculty, and he describes the developments leading to the prediction of the cosmic microwave background. He discusses the trend of particle theorists pursuing questions in cosmology, and he reflects on the impact of the Vietnam era on Princeton. Peebles conveys the significance of the introduction of cold dark matter and his perspective on the inflationary theory of the universe. He explains why LambdaCDM has become standard in the field and why COBE was so important. Peebles surveys the many observational projects that are currently being planned, and he reflects on the "buzz" that he felt in advance of winning the Nobel Prize. He describes how his life has been affected by this honor, and he reflects on how the Department of Physics has changed over the course of his long career. At the end of the interview, Peebles emphasizes his interest in remaining close both to theory and experimentation, and he shares his sense of curiosity at what clues might be found from the epoch of light element production in the very early universe.
James Peebles is the Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus at Princeton University. Peebles arrived at Princeton in 1958 where he remained his whole career, completing his graduate studies and postdoctoral appointment there before joining the faculty. Peebles received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2019.
Dicke, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
Guth, Alan H.
Kormendy, J. (John)
Ostriker, J. P.
Peebles, P. J. E. (Phillip James Edwin)
Weiss, Rainer 1932-
Cosmic Background Explorer (Satellite)
Princeton University
Princeton University. Department of Physics
Cosmic background radiation
Cosmology
Dark matter (Astronomy)
Fine-structure constant.
General relativity (Physics)
Inflationary universe.
Infrared astronomy
Nobel Prize winners
Radio astronomy
Interviews. aat
Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Zierler, David, 1979- interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA