Arno Allan Penzias: Difference between revisions

Penzias was born in [[Munich]], Germany, the son of Justine (née Eisenreich) and Karl Penzias, who ran a leather business.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McMurray |first1=Emily J. |title=Notable twentieth-century scientists |last2=Kosek |first2=Jane Kelly |last3=Valade |first3=Roger M. |date=1995 |publisher=[[Gale Research]] |isbn=978-0-81-039185-7 |volume=3, L-R |location=Detroit, MI |oclc=30781516}}</ref> His grandparents had come to Munich from Poland and were among the leaders of the Reichenbachstrasse [[shul]]. At age six, he and his brother Gunther were among the [[History of the Jews in Germany|Jewish]] children evacuated to Britain as part of the [[Kindertransport]] rescue operation.<ref name=":1">{{CiteQ|Q126004030}}</ref><ref name="npr">{{cite web |last=Neuman |first=Scott |date=January 24, 2024 |title=Arno Penzias, co-discoverer of the Big Bang's afterglow, dies at age 90 |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/01/24/1226572843/arno-penzias-obituary-big-bang-theory |access-date=January 24, 2024 |work=[[NPR]]}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Some time later, his parents also fled [[Nazi Germany]], first for the United Kingdom, and then for the United States, and the family settled in [[the Bronx]], New York City in 1940.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Nobel">{{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1978 ''The Origin of Elements''</ref> In 1946, Penzias became a [[naturalized citizen of the United States]].<ref name="wapo">{{Cite news |last=Weil |first=Martin |date=January 23, 2024 |title=Nobel laureate Arno Penzias dies at 90; helped find traces of Big Bang |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/01/23/arno-penzias-big-bang-nobel-died-obituary/ |access-date=January 25, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Penzias was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and the National Academy of Sciences in 1975.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web |title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter P |url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterP.pdf |publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=April 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515183157/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterP.pdf |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/51742.html |title=Arno A. Penzias |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |access-date=July 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604001831/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/51742.html |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1977, Penzias and Wilson received the [[Henry Draper Medal]] of the [[National Academy of Sciences]].<ref name="Draper">{{cite web|title=Henry Draper Medal |url=http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |access-date=February 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126003930/http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/awards/henry-draper-medal.html |archive-date=January 26, 2013 }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The two were awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, sharing it with [[Pyotr Kapitsa]]. Kapitsa's work on [[low-temperature physics]] was unrelated to Penzias' and Wilson's.<ref name=N78>{{cite web | title = The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 | publisher = Nobel Foundation | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1978/index.html | access-date = 9 October 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081021034833/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1978/index.html | archive-date = 21 October 2008 | url-status = live }}</ref> In 1979, Penzias received the Golden Plate Award of the [[American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org |publisher=[[Academy of Achievement]] |url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration |access-date=July 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032022/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was also the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. In 1998, he was awarded the [[IRI Medal]] from the [[Industrial Research Institute]].