Scott Dodelson

are mine, not my employer’s

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

In 1992, cosmologists said they had “seen the face of God.”
Why did the COBE discovery trigger language like that—and did modern cosmology begin that day?
My latest: https://t.co/a4GIXUBxME

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

The night sky looks black and white.

It isn’t.

Space speaks in many colors—most of which we can’t even see.

And depending on which “color” you look at, you learn completely different things about the universe.

https://t.co/uUJUDuGfg1

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

https://t.co/lctLcUrpmU

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

Everyone uses ΛCDM but no one believes it.

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

70% of the universe is something we don’t understand.

Our best theory gets its value wrong by a factor of 10¹²⁰.

And yet we’ve learned to live with it.

Why?

https://t.co/pXMO9p95TL

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

@Physburgh great point. will post a follow-up addressing this. unless you object, i will mention that you are the one who pointed out my mistake

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

After COBE, cosmologists didn’t converge on ΛCDM.
We converged on CDM—and knew it didn’t quite work.

The rest was still up for grabs.

A look back at how the fiducial cosmological model emerged ...

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

https://t.co/jPx8L3qK6y

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

How does an idea become accepted? Here's one example in the field of cosmology, where the idea of inflation took hold almost immediately. How did that happen?

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

Is there a word/emoji for that feeling you get when an agent keeps whirling around and telling you it will take a few seconds, won't respond concisely to simple questions, keeps running more code, and before you know it, the day is done, and your problem unsolved?

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

consider subscribing for free at https://t.co/qhSDav83Qd

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

"Cosmologists had audacity in the 1980’s. There were large conferences with names like “Inner Space/Outer Space” that argued for a deep connection between particle physics and cosmology... In retrospect, there were two problems with this picture."

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

... the introduction of a cosmological constant was not just the proposal that a specific model is correct. It was the fundamental belief that we are on to something, that our audacity to answer the most profound questions is warranted." https://t.co/qhSDav8BFL

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

"30 years ago when a cosmological constant was invoked to resolve a different set of tensions: I thought it was unserious.

But I was wrong...

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

Please consider subscribing [for free!] to received emails linking to posts. https://t.co/qhSDav83Qd

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

"DESI is now state-of-the-art, giving us insight into how fast the universe has been expanding over the past 5-10 billion years. The fiducial cosmological model predicts the distance-redshift relation. So, these measurements allow us to test ΛCDM. And the model seems to fail ..."

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

...one or more of its precise predictions is wrong. We then stand on its shoulders and move beyond it, to a higher level of truth." https://t.co/EVLUAxKo14

[Scott Dodelson @ScottDodelson]

"A great model of reality makes predictions for phenomena that are otherwise unexplained. And that means that measurements can be made to pin down any freedom in the model... and then, ironically, this precision will sometimes lead to the realization that the model is incomplete