Charles Bennett

As principal investigator for NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), launched in 2001, Bennett led the team that produced the most precise full-sky map of the cosmic microwave background then available. WMAP's data pinned the age of the universe at approximately 13.8 billion years and determined that the universe is flat to within a small margin of error. The results also confirmed that dark matter and dark energy make up the vast majority of the universe's content.

NASA's COBE satellite, launched in 1989, made the first detection of anisotropies (temperature variations) in the cosmic microwave background but at very coarse angular resolution. WMAP, launched in 2001, improved the resolution roughly 30 times over COBE, allowing far more precise measurements of cosmological parameters. Bennett had also worked on COBE before leading WMAP, giving him deep experience with CMB observation.

Bennett has received numerous major honors for his work on WMAP, including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the Harvey Prize in science and technology. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and has been recognized by the American Physical Society. WMAP's findings are considered among the most important cosmological results of the early 21st century.

WMAP was decommissioned in 2010 after nine years of operation, having far exceeded its planned mission lifetime. The European Space Agency's Planck satellite, launched in 2009, succeeded WMAP and provided even higher-resolution maps of the cosmic microwave background before completing its mission in 2013. Bennett has been involved in proposing next-generation CMB experiments building on WMAP's legacy.