How charity helped prove the Big Bang Theory

In 1939, the Penzias traveled to England on a baby transport as part of a British operation to rescue 10,000 mostly Jewish children from Germany. The brothers were initially housed in a girls’ orphanage in London, and then lived in several English foster families. When they finally got the necessary papers together, Carl and Justin Penzias followed their children to England and the family immigrated to the USA on a ship. Hurricanes and German submarines made transatlantic travel difficult. On January 3, 1940, when their ship docked in New York City, reporters snapped photos of Arnault and Günther waving wide-eyed at the Statue of Liberty.

The Penzias family settled in the Bronx. Here the boys went to school and learned English. Arno graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and City College. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and earned his doctorate in physics from Columbia University.

After completing his studies, he conducted research at Bell Laboratories, where in the 1960s, together with his research colleague Robert Wilson, he discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, which confirmed the Big Bang theory in cosmology. For this discovery, the two scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978. In a letter he wrote in response to a congratulatory telegram from then-President Jimmy Carter, Penzias expressed his gratitude for being allowed to live in America:

“I came to the United States thirty-nine years ago as a destitute refugee from Nazi Germany. For me and my family, America was a safe haven and a land of freedom and opportunity. At a time when the promises and importance of American institutions are often questioned, I feel compelled to testify about the fulfillment of the American promise through my personal life experience. I am very proud to be an American and very grateful to America and the American people. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank you as a representative of the American people, and to convey through you a small part of my gratitude to the American people.

But what he could not thank was the man whose signature opened the door to America for his family. Arno’s father promised never to contact the person who signed the affidavit – and he kept his promise. Details about the dedicated assistant were kept secret.