# Cosmic Microwave Background The remnant thermal radiation from the early universe, accidentally discovered by [[wiki/Arno Penzias|Arno Penzias]] and Robert Wilson at [[wiki/Bell Labs|Bell Labs]] in 1964 while calibrating a horn antenna in Holmdel, New Jersey. The discovery confirmed the [[wiki/Big Bang|Big Bang]] theory and earned them the 1978 [[wiki/Nobel Prize|Nobel Prize]] in Physics. Referenced in [[articles/Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power|Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power]].