One of the requirements of the Nobel Prize is that the laureates give a public lecture at some point, and as a result, there is generally a seminar scheduled a little bit before the actual prize ceremony, at which the laureats give lectures about the work for which they’re being honored. These frequently involve props and demonstrations, but George Smoot takes it to a new level, using the Cal marching band to demonstrate the Big Bang:
“Professor Smoot came up to the band and asked if later that week, when we practiced at Memorial Stadium, we could do a formation like the universe forming. He wanted the band to form up a blob and reenact the Big Bang. That’s what he asked,” marveled Hanadi Shatara, the band’s public relations director.
And so it came to pass that not long thereafter, Smoot addressed the members of the Cal Band, assembled in a modified blob midfield at Memorial Stadium. “It’s a little more complicated than ‘Go Bears,’ but it’s just as important!” said Smoot, grinning ear to ear.
They shot video of this, which was used as part of Smoot’s Nobel lecture. The band video is available at that link, but only as a Real stream, and since RealPlayer is like a goddamn virus, I haven’t watched it. You can also get video of the entire lecture from the Nobel Prize site, which will presumably include the band video, but I haven’t got around to looking at that yet, either.
Why am I posting this, then? Two reasons: first, to use this title reference, and second, for the best response to a question about the creation since St. Augustine:
A member of the Swedish television crew filming this event for its showing during the Nobel festivities in Sweden said he had one question before the Cal Band began its rendition of the Big Bang. “What starts the Big Bang?” he asked.
Simple, said Smoot. “Drums!”
That is beautiful.
So, it could be said that he was drumming up support for Big Bang cosmology?
“Drums!” is the best thing I’ve read all day.
Which, granted, is not saying a lot. But still.
I have never been more proud to be a Cal Band alumnus.
I don’t know if it’s still there, but there used to be a nice little faculty parking lot next to the physics building. You needed a “NL” tag to park there. Yeah — NL stands for Nobel Laureate.
Geez I love Cal. I hope Professor Smoot has his parking tag.
Oh, and there’s Real Player video of the ‘performance’ behind your first link.
It should have been “basses”, not “tubas”, but close enough. 🙂
I was there in Stockholm and I don’t remember the Cal band at all. But there were technical difficulties at the beginning and too many slides so it probably did not get shown.