Robert Henry Dicke (/ˈdɪki/; May 6, 1916 – March 4, 1997) was an American astronomer and physicist who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity.

[5] Dicke narrowing occurs at relatively low pressures in the millimeter wave and microwave regions (where it is used in atomic clocks to improve precision).

He spent the remainder of his career developing a program of precision tests of general relativity using the framework of the equivalence principle.

A highlight experiment was the test of the equivalence principle by Roll, Krotkov and Dicke, which was a factor of 100 more accurate than previous work.

[8] He also made measurements of solar oblateness which were useful in understanding the perihelion precession of Mercury's orbit, one of the classical tests of general relativity.

They were preceded by the accidental detection made by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson (also using a Dicke radiometer), who were working at Bell Labs near Princeton.

[11][12] Nevertheless, Dicke's group made the second clean detection, and their theoretical interpretation of Penzias and Wilson's results showed that theories of the early universe had moved from pure speculation into well-tested physics.

Since there is a non-negligible amount of matter, either we are coincidentally living close to the transition to or from the matter-dominated stage, or we are in the middle of it; the latter is preferred since the coincidences are highly unlikely (an application of the Copernican principle).

[citation needed] However, in an interview with Martin Harwit he claims that even though he is often credited with the invention of the device; he believes he read about it in a review of scientific equipment written by Walter C. Michels, a professor at Bryn Mawr.

Currie, of Scottish descent, was born in Barrow-in-Furness in England in 1920 and as a young girl immigrated to Rochester, New York, via Australia and New Zealand, of which Annie had very fond memories.