G.F. Smoot, C.L. Bennett, A. Kogut, et al., "Structure in the COBE differential microwave radiometer first-year maps," Astrophysical Journal, 396:L1-L5, 1992.

George F. Smoot (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.): "The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) discovery of the primordial seeds of modern structure is a landmark in cosmology.

"The detection of the progenitors of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and even larger structures defines the general outlines of large-scale structure formation--one of cosmology's great unsolved mysteries. The COBE differential microwave radiometer (DMR) detection also provides a link back to the first instant of the Big Bang.

"For many years, how galaxies and larger-scale structures formed has been a central problem in cosmology. With each discovery of a more distant or larger object, the problem deepened. It had long been thought that stars and galaxies had formed and then been held together by the action of gravity. The picture went as follows: In...

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