Pryke is an experimental cosmologist focusing on the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the after glow from early times when the Universe was a smooth hot plasma. By studying the CMB we can learn much about the origin, contents and ultimate fate of the Universe. Pryke has played a leading role in the construction and operation of a series of CMB telescopes cited at the South Pole in Antarctica, and the analysis of the data they produce, including DASI, QUaD and the BICEP/Keck series of experiments. The CMB polarization measurements pursued by these experiments aim to detect gravitational waves spawned by inflation in the first instant after the big bang. Pryke and his group conduct analyses of CMB data in order to produce sky-maps of the CMB temperature and polarization, and extract fundamental parameters describing the energy content and evolution of the universe.
Clem Pryke
Associate Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy and Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics