I develop instruments to study the early universe. Current projects include the BICEP telescopes in Antarctica, observing the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), searching for the primordial gravitational waves. SPHEREx, a NASA mission designed to map the entire sky in near-infrared spectroscopy. Target to launch in a Falcon 9 in 2025, SPHEREx will probe the physics of inflation by measuring the non-Gaussianity by studying the large-scale structure.
With light traveling at a finite speed, looking at various objects in the Universe allow us to look back in time. The oldest light in the Universe is the Cosmic Microwave Background, it comes from the time photons last interacted with matter in the Universe at about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, and I believe this is the ultimate history we all inspire to study.
You can find me backpacking around the world, or camping in the High Sierra right here in California.
I still need to learn how to speak Elvish, but I would love to read Lord of the Rings again.
Picture of Howard carrying the BICEP telescope detector to South Pole, Antarctica.