Brian Keating 
Astrophysicist | UC San Diego
La Jolla, CA, UNITED STATES
Brian Keating is an expert in the study of the universe’s oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
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Biography
Keating is a professor of physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS) in the Department of Physics at the UC San Diego. He is a public speaker, inventor, and an expert in the study of the universe’s oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), using it to learn about the origin and evolution of the universe. Keating is a pioneer in the search for the earliest physical evidence of the inflationary epoch, the theorized period of expansion of space in the early universe directly after the Big Bang. Keating is the best-selling author of "Losing the Nobel Prize," which was selected as one of the Best Science Books of the Year by Amazon, Science Friday, and Science News. He has lectured on six of seven continents, and his lectures have been seen in person and online by over 5 million viewers.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Religion and Science
Cosmology
Big Bang
Astrophysics
Space and Astrophysics
Education (2)
Brown University: Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy, Phsyics 1999
Case Western Reserve University: B.A., Phsyics 1993
Affiliations (2)
- International Astronomical Union
- American Physical Society Fellow
Links (3)
Media Appearances (5)
Cosmologist To Talk At Foothill College
Patch.com online
2018-11-07
Renowned Cosmologist of the U.C. San Diego, Brian Keating, will give a free talk with illustrations and without jargon on the science of the stars at Foothill College, located at off El Monte Road in Los Altos. The talk slated for 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 is called "Cosmology and Ambition: Losing the Nobel Prize."
Why Nobel prizes fail 21st-century science
The Guardian online
2018-09-30
“The Nobel prizes have strayed far from the vision their founder had for them, and they badly need to be reorganised,” said cosmologist Brian Keating, of the University of California, San Diego. “They reward an outdated version of science.”
Perseid Meteor Shower Will Dazzle Uniquely Dark Skies This Weekend
NBC7 San Diego online
2018-08-08
Comet Swift-Tuttle orbits the sun every 133 years, leaving behind a path of debris, said astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, Brian Keating. Earth then travels through the debris, called “dirty snowballs” because it’s made up of ice and dust, creating a meteor shower spectacle.
Pulsar discoverer Jocelyn Bell Burnell wins $3-million Breakthrough Prize
Nature.com online
2018-09-06
Brian Keating, an astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, who this year published a book criticizing the Nobel committee’s selection processes, says that this Breakthrough award “rights past injustices and properly honours the pioneering and pivotal contributions of a scientist who opened a new window on the cosmos”.
Reconsidering the Nobel Prize
Science online
2018-04-20
Losing the Nobel Prize, by astrophysicist Brian Keating, offers a riveting account of the rise and fall of the seeming confirmation of the cosmological theory of inflation. Occluding Keating's account, however, are his personal beefs about "losing" the Nobel Prize. Such gripes taint Keating's otherwise thoughtful analysis of ways the Nobel committee's selection process could be improved.
Articles (5)
The POLARBEAR-2 and Simons Array Focal Plane Fabrication Status
Journal of Low Temperature PhysicsBrian Keating et. al
2018 We present on the status of POLARBEAR-2 A (PB2-A) focal plane fabrication. The PB2-A is the first of three telescopes in the Simons Array, which is an array of three cosmic microwave background polarization-sensitive telescopes located at the POLARBEAR site in Northern Chile. As the successor to the PB experiment, each telescope and receiver combination is named as PB2-A, PB2-B, and PB2-C.
Studies of systematic uncertainties for Simons Observatory: polarization modulator related effects
International Society for Optics and PhotonicsBrian Keating et al.
2018 The Simons Observatory (SO) will observe the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over a wide range of frequencies (27 to 270 GHz) and angular scales by using both small (∼0.5 m) and large (∼6 m) aperture telescopes. The SO small aperture telescopes will target degree angular scales where the primordial B-mode polarization signal is expected to peak.
2017 upgrade and performance of BICEP3: a 95GHz refracting telescope for degree-scale CMB polarization
International Society for Optics and PhotonicsBrian Keating et. al
2018 BICEP3 is a 520mm aperture on-axis refracting telescope observing the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at 95GHz in search of the B-mode signal originating from in ationary gravitational waves. BICEP3's focal plane is populated with modularized tiles of antenna-coupled transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. BICEP3 was deployed to the South Pole during 2014-15 austral summer and has been operational since.
Simons Observatory large aperture telescope receiver design overview
International Society for Optics and PhotonicsBrian Keating et. al
2018 The Simons Observatory (SO) will make precision temperature and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a series of telescopes which will cover angular scales between one arcminute and tens of degrees and sample frequencies between 27 and 270 GHz. Here we present the current design of the large aperture telescope receiver (LATR), a 2.4m diameter cryostat that will be mounted on the SO 6m telescope and will be the largest CMB receiver to date.
Cooldown strategies and transient thermal simulations for the Simons Observatory
International Society for Optics and PhotonicsBrian Keating et. al
2018 The Simons Observatory (SO) will provide precision polarimetry of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a series of telescopes which will cover angular scales from arc-minutes to tens of degrees, contain over 60,000 detectors, and observe in frequency bands between 27 GHz and 270 GHz. SO will consist of a six-meter-aperture telescope initially coupled to roughly 35,000 detectors along with an array of half-meter aperture refractive cameras, coupled to an additional 30,000+ detectors.
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