David Todd Wilkinson

American physicist

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July 23, 2026

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David Todd Wilkinson was an American physicist known for his contributions to the study of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB is residual thermal radiation from the big bang, discovered in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. This radiation has a temperature of approximately 2.728 Kelvin. Wilkinson was a contributor to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), a U.S. satellite launched in 2001 to map irregularities in the CMB. The WMAP mission, named in his honor, helped determine the age of the universe and its composition.123

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Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
…in tribute to American physicist David Todd Wilkinson, who died in 2002 and who was a contributor to both WMAP and WMAP’s predecessor, the Cosmic Background Explorer.
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…in tribute to American physicist David Todd Wilkinson, who died in 2002 and who was a contributor to both WMAP and WMAP’s predecessor, the Cosmic Background Explorer.
Read More