= John C. Mather
{c}
= J. C. Mather
{c}
{synonym}
= John Mather
{c}
{synonym}
<John C. Mather> developed and led the scientific use of the <COBE> <FIRAS> instrument to test the <radiation spectrum> of the <cosmic microwave background>. Comparing the sky signal against a controlled reference <blackbody> made the measurement a stringent test of spectral shape.
The measured spectrum closely followed <Planck's law> at a <temperature> near 2.7 <kelvin>, strongly supporting a thermal origin in the early <Universe>. This result addresses a different observable from angular anisotropy: a nearly perfect <blackbody spectrum> concerns the distribution over <frequency>, while a sky map concerns changes with direction.<Nobel Lecture: From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and beyond by John C. Mather>[Discussion of FIRAS calibration, blackbody spectrum and cosmological interpretation]{ref}
\Image[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/John-C-Mather.jpg]
{title=Portrait of <John C. Mather>}
{width=240}
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