Contact: Lauren Ward
412-268-7761
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For immediate release:
December 22, 2003
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Dark Matter Finding — Science magazine's #1 Breakthrough of the Year
 Work this year by Carnegie Mellon astrophysicist Robert Nichol and a team of collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is celebrated as contributing to Science magazine's number one breakthrough of the year, "Illuminating the Dark Universe." This winner leads its annual ranking of the top 10 scientific discoveries. (see the Dec. 19 issue. Subscription may be required.
In July, Nichol and his colleagues announced their discovery of dark energy's "shadow" on the ancient cosmic radiation, a relic of the cooled radiation from the Big Bang. They achieved their finding by correlating millions of galaxies in the SDSS against the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation as measured by NASA's orbiting Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP. (see the original news release )
Together with earlier WMAP findings on CMB radiation, the work "ends a decades-long argument about the nature of the universe," according to Science.
For more information, see:
 Carnegie Mellon News story
Carnegie Mellon Scientist Bob Nichol Plays Key Role in Discovering Evidence for Dark Energy (press release) (Carnegie Mellon News)
Astronomers find evidence of a 'dark' force in the universe (Pittsburgh Post Gazette article)
MSNBC Cosmic Log (July 24, 2003)
Sloan Digital Sky Survey press release
Sloan Digital Sky Survey website
Robert Nichols
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