Arno Allan Penzias (/ˈpɛnziəs/; April 26, 1933 – January 22, 2024) was a German-born American physicist and radio astronomer. Along with Robert Woodrow Wilson, he discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, which helped create the Big Bang theory of cosmology. He and Wilson won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Penzias was born in Munich, Germany and raised in New York City.[1][2] He studied at Columbia University.
Penzias died from problems caused by Alzheimer's disease in San Francisco, California on January 22, 2024, at the age of 90.[3]