The James Webb Space Telescope is a miracle of modern science and engineering. With a 21-foot, gold-coated mirror protected by a sunshield that’s the size of a tennis court, it’s the world’s most powerful telescope and humanity’s latest attempt to answer questions like: “Where did we come from?” and “Are we alone?” (It also needed to be folded up like origami in order to launch into space.) Nobel Laureate John C. Mather, the leader of the team at NASA that built the Webb, explains…SHOW MORERead transcriptThis talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED’s editors chose to feature it for you.Learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope by checking out NASA’s website.
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About the speaker
John C. MatherTelescope visionarySee speaker profileNobel Prize-winning astrophysicist John C. Mather leads the science team behind NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever launched into space.