Andrei Linde's question to himself all that time after becoming the 'father of cosmic inflation' - 30-40 years, depending how one counts. Why does that convince me that here is a real scientist? The video of Linde and his wife receiving the news is short and well worth viewing. Thanks, Anthony.

Interesting too that experimental confirmation came from the South Pole. Hasn't the turn of 2013-14 been a great time for people such as these in Antarctica?

"the scientists involved are among the most careful and conservative people I know"

The only question being can a single Josh cartoon span such a distance?

Neil Turok is one of the sceptics in this situation, so obviously he was interviewed by the BBC within 24 hours of the big news. Stephen Hawking's summary of the history I also found useful earlier in the segment. No mention of Linde but I'm sure Alan Guth would include the Russian.

At the end Turok brought out all our favourite phrases:

I have reasons for doubts ...
it's not entirely convincing to me ...
verification is very important ...
it's wise to be a little bit sceptical …
there is no confirmation and the experiment was extremely difficult ...
they don't entirely explain why they are so convinced of what they claim ...
Stephen has postulated a way of starting the universe but it doesn't seem to work ...
the great thing about science is it doesn't matter how many you are up against ...
ultimately the right ideas win out ...
science is not a popularity contest ...
Galileo was right but his ideas weren't so popular at the time

Yet as a non-expert listener I was assuming, as the very nice BBC interviewer clearly was, that Turok was wrong and the majority of cosmologists - as far as one can tell - are right. Plus I, like many, really want this to be a the breakthrough it seems. (It makes one own life feel more meaningful, I think one could argue. Certainly more exciting.)

Tough being a sceptic, isn't it?

The Very Early Universe: Proceedings of the Nuffield Workshop, Cambridge 21 June to 9 July, 1982 is I'm sure a great read, especially in the light of yesterday's excitement. The three-week workshop was convened by Hawking, who mentioned its importance, in his typically unassuming way, on the BBC this morning. Google Books helps out by showing Alan Guth's contribution followed immediately by Andrei Linde's - papers 8 and 9. So that all seems to fit.

Before that paper two is by our old friend Martin Rees, speaking to the fascinating subject "What the astrophysicist wants from the very early universe". Bright man of course - but like Hawking (and more so) a bit of a catastrophist. I still think Freeman Dyson got his and other such academics' number in that great interview with Benny Peiser in April 2007:

Benny Peiser: Britain's leading cosmologists seem to be particularly gloomy about the future of civilisation and humankind. The so-called Doomsday Argument seems to have had a significant influence on many Cambridge-based scientists. It has induced among them a conviction that global catastrophe is almost imminent. Martin Rees, for instance, estimates that there is a 50% chance of human extinction during the next 100 years. How do you explain this apocalyptic mood among leading cosmologists in Britain and the almost desperate tone of their pronouncements?

Freeman Dyson: My view of the prevalence of doom-and-gloom in Cambridge is that it is a result of the English class system. In England there were always two sharply opposed middle classes, the academic middle class and the commercial middle class. In the nineteenth century, the academic middle class won the battle for power and status. As a child of the academic middle class, I learned to look on the commercial middle class with loathing and contempt. Then came the triumph of Margaret Thatcher, which was also the revenge of the commercial middle class. The academics lost their power and prestige and the business people took over. The academics never forgave Thatcher and have been gloomy ever since.

But that's no doubt for another day. In fact the whole of this thread is probably for another day :)

Skip, my algorithm was slightly different to yours :) I read about the experimental confirmation of cosmic inflation on the BBC fairly early London time yesterday. After a while, after doing some other things, I wondered "Has WUWT covered that? I bet it has." And thus I saw the video of Linde and his wife receiving the news.

In passing, what a great and speedy production by Stanford. One for both experts and neophytes to treasure. And hopefully to teach younger guns than us the joy of - and self-discipline needed for - the scientific method. I look forward to the scrutiny of the experiment and results that Linde himself clearly expects and welcomes.