Scientist Celebrates Fruition of Labors

NASA Co-Workers Revel at Goddard

John Mather was one of the chief scientists who helped develop a NASA satellite that uncovered convincing evidence of the big bang theory. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

The physicists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt abandoned their laboratories yesterday afternoon for a sip of champagne and a toast to a colleague who had done them proud.

After all, John C. Mather, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics, was one of them. As other scientists have come and gone, Mather, has remained at Goddard, on the federal payroll for 30 years, doing the groundbreaking astrophysics work that won him the coveted prize. He has lived in the community all that time, first in Beltsville, then Hyattsville.

Dozens of co-workers signed a banner inscribed with "Congratulations, John Mather" and many others stood in long lines to offer back slaps, handshakes and hugs. A young colleague slipped him a note that said simply: "I am very inspired by your work."

"This is us," said Mather, 60, looking out over the more than 400 NASA Goddard co-workers who had gathered to wish him well. "This is my family here. These are the people I love."

It was 6 a.m. Tuesday when Mather got the telephone call telling him that he and George F. Smoot, an experimental astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, had won the Nobel Prize for their work in providing the first tangible evidence that the big bang started the universe. They tested the theory using data from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite that they had helped to create. Besides the acclaim, the prize brings a $1.4 million purse.

Mather is NASA's first civilian scientist to be awarded the prize.

He reveled yesterday not only in his colleagues' praise but also in the knowledge that his life's work has been recognized in the highest echelons of science. Last month, he and his wife Jane traveled to Prague to accept the Gruber Cosmology Prize for the COBE team's work in providing the big bang evidence, which was first announced in 1992

"We can be fairly certain that our results are now in every astronomy textbook," he said yesterday.

But the acclaim he's receiving also redounds to Goddard. "This just proves that government scientists can do world-class science," Goddard director Edward J. Weiler said. "This means a lot, not only to Goddard but to all NASA scientists."

Goddard scientist Blake Lorenz, said the prize will probably loosen purse strings in Washington and lead to better funding for research projects. The Goddard center also is responsible for the Hubbard telescope. "We are part of a successful team and Goddard is famous for getting a lot of bang for the buck."

Another colleague, Mark Baugh, had a more personal take on the project, recalling his work before the COBE satellite was launched. "This is absolutely incredible. It was something just to see the theory," he said. "But to actually prove it and then to get the Nobel Prize, I feel totally a part of it."

Jane Mather, a ballet teacher, can still remember the excitement she felt when the satellite was launched in 1989.