Photo: Nomo michael hoefner http://www.zwo5.de / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
George Smoot belongs to a rare class of people who answered cosmic questions with hard data. Sharing the 2006 Nobel Prize for mapping the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, he essentially measured the faint afterglow of the Big Bang and gave the theory its evidence. What fascinates me is the patience that work demands: years of instrumentation just to read whispers from the dawn of time. The Einstein Medal and Lawrence Award only underline the breadth of his impact. I find him genuinely inspiring, a Floridian who turned the entire universe into a laboratory and never lost his curiosity along the way.
Overview
George Fitzgerald Smoot III (February 20, 1945 – September 18, 2025) was an American astrophysicist and cosmologist. He shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics with John C. Mather "for their discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation". This work helped further the Big Bang theory of the universe using the Cosmic Background Explorer.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- George F. Smoot
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョージ・スムート
- Reading
- じょーじ・すむーと
- Born
- February 20, 1945 (age 81)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Rooster
- Origin
- Yukon, Florida, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- astronomer / cosmologist / astrophysicist / physicist / university teacher
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Upper Arlington High School
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics
- 1992 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal
- 2009 Oersted Medal
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- 2003 Albert Einstein Medal
- 1994 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award
- 2007 honorary doctorate of the University of the Mediterranean - Aix Marseille II
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Astronomer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.