Snapshot · The Shawn Ryan Show
Brian Keating's BICEP telescope team claimed in 2014 to have detected the gravitational wave signal of cosmic inflation — but the result was later retracted after proving to be galactic dust contamination.
Where this was said
At 2:22:30 · chapter starts 2:19:10
On St. Patrick's Day 2014, the BICEP team held a press conference at Harvard — led by Avi Loeb — announcing what appeared to be the detection of primordial gravitational waves, the long-sought signature of cosmic inflation. The discovery made front pages worldwide. Keating, who had been removed from the team's leadership, harbored private doubts about the signal's robustness. Invoking Feynman's rule — 'the easiest person to fool is yourself' — he explains how the team missed a crucial contaminant: galactic dust from dead stars, the very material that makes up the meteorites he brought to the studio. That dust mimics the gravitational wave signature exactly. The claim was retracted in a deeply public and embarrassing correction. The story became the subject of his bestselling book *Losing the Nobel Prize*, and serves as the episode's most powerful illustration of scientific humility. [1] — Brian Keating "In 2014, Brian Keating's BICEP team announced they had detected the gravitational wave signature of cosmic inflation — the primer strike of…" 2:19:00
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