# Arno Penzias German-American physicist who, with Robert Wilson, accidentally discovered [[wiki/Cosmic Microwave Background|cosmic microwave background radiation]] at [[wiki/Bell Labs|Bell Labs]] in 1964 — the remnant heat signature of the [[wiki/Big Bang|Big Bang]]. The discovery earned them the 1978 [[wiki/Nobel Prize|Nobel Prize]] in Physics and confirmed the Big Bang theory. Penzias later served as Bell Labs' chief scientist. Referenced in [[articles/Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power|Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power]].