Kovac makes a ‘Big Bang’ on Time’s list
Wide speculation spread in March when the Center for Astrophysics announced it was holding a press conference. What news would the announcement bring about space, or possibly about the origins of life? News spread, with many predictions centering on the discovery of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time. It was believed the waves had been created by the enormous forces at work during cosmic inflation, which scientists say occurred in a fraction of the first second of the universe’s existence, when it expanded billions of times over. The process was first proposed by MIT scientist Alan Guth in 1981. Those predictions were right. John Kovac, Harvard associate professor of astronomy and the project leader of the BICEP2 telescope at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, had identified the effects of gravitational waves for the first time. Now, Time magazine has named Kovac to the 2014 Time 100, its list of the 100 most influential people...