Million dollars for inflation theory

The Russian-speaking theoretical physicists Andrei Linde and Alexey Starobinsky became the laureates of the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. Together with the third laureate in this field - Alan Guth, the prize of $ 1 million was awarded for the literally "innovative theory of cosmic inflation."



The theory of inflation developed early 70-80s. the American theoretical physicist Alan Gut and the Soviet physicists Andrei Linde and Alexei Starobinsky (RAS), introduces significant changes in the theory of the hot Universe of American physicist of Soviet origin Georgy Gamow. In particular, to explain the phenomenal homogeneity of the Universe and its “plane”, they introduced the principle of inflation - the ultrafast expansion of the Universe at the initial stage of its existence.

The basis for the award was the work of the Bicep2 project, which discovered in relic radiation a direct confirmation of the inflation period in the history of the Universe - traces of gravitational waves from the Big Bang.



The Kavli Prize is a scientific prize, awarded once every two years, starting in 2008, for outstanding achievements in astrophysics, nanotechnology, and neurology. The laureates are awarded a medal and a prize of $ 1 million from the Kavli Foundation.

Established by Norwegian philanthropist Fred Kavli in 2007. The award is positioned as an alternative to the Nobel Prize.

')

"I decided to support three areas of science: one deals with the largest, the other with the smallest, and the third with the most difficult." Fred Kavli.



I sincerely want to congratulate the laureates for their well-deserved award, and to pay tribute to the Soviet physicist who brought up such minds.



Well, as an intellectual dessert, I advise you to listen to (or read, if you wish) the popular science lecture by Andrei Linde on the theory of inflation and modern cosmology, organized at the PN Nevsky Physics Institute. Lebedev, Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI) in 2007: The many-sided universe .