Michele Limon is an Italian research scientist at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Limon studied physics at the Università degli Studi di Milano in Milan, Italy and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been conducting research for more than 30 years and has experience in the design of ground, balloon and space-based instrumentation. His academic specialties include Astrophysics, Cosmology, Instrumentation Development, and Cryogenics. As a research scientist at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

from 1996 to 2001, Limon worked on the

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), originally known as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP and Explorer 80), was a NASA spacecraft operating from 2001 to 2010 which measured temperature differences across the sky in the cosmic mic ...

(WMAP) project with NASA. WMAP was a NASA Explorer mission that launched June 2001 to make fundamental measurements of cosmology-the study of the properties of the universe as a whole. WMAP was extremely successful, producing the new Standard Model of Cosmology. Limon continued working on WMAP at

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

from 2001 to 2008. Limon and the WMAP team received the 2012 Gruber Yale Cosmology Prize and 2018

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture capit ...

for their contributions to modern cosmology. In 2008, Limon moved to Columbia University as a research scientist to build the E and B Experiment (EBEX), a balloon-borne microwave telescope designed to measure the polarization of the

Cosmic Microwave Background The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ...

(CMB). It collected data during an 11-day science flight over Antarctica. Limon is currently working on the Simons Observatory, a suite of ground-based telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile designed to measure the intensity and polarization of the CMB. The Simons Observatory aims to reveal information about the contents and energy density of matter in the Universe and test theories of

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Limon, Michele Living people 1961 births University of Milan alumni Columbia University faculty Scientists from Milan Place of birth missing (living people) Italian astrophysicists Italian expatriates in the United States