“Wrinkles In Time” & Critical Thinking
| Article | |
|---|---|
| Title | “Wrinkles In Time” & Critical Thinking |
| Author(s) | Nick Percival |
| Published in | Beyond Mainstream |
| Date | 2020-02-08 |
| Subject area | Physics |
| Topics | Big Bang, cosmic microwave background |
Read online | Read the full article |
Archived copy | Archived version |
| Retrieved | 2026-07-23 |
"‘Wrinkles In Time’ & Critical Thinking" is an article by Nick Percival published on 8 February 2020 on Beyond Mainstream, examining George Smoot's search for structure in the cosmic background radiation.
Percival sets out the problem Smoot faced: the radiation fits a blackbody pattern and is extremely uniform in every direction, which sits well with the Big Bang but leaves unexplained how a highly structured universe of galaxies and superclusters could develop from a uniform beginning. Working strictly from what Smoot himself writes, Percival examines the reasoning and the mindset behind the search for the “wrinkles” that were expected to supply the missing structure.