Abstract: Where did we come from, how did we get here, where are we going? We've measured the Big Bang and we've built telescopes to observe everything from the first stars and galaxies to the formation of stars nearby, to planets around other stars, to the planets, satellites, comets, and asteroids here in our own solar system. As a young postdoc, I led the proposal effort to build the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, which measured the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation, and also measured the cosmic infrared background radiation. Our work earned a Nobel Prize (2006). Then, as the head scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, I led the science teams to work with the project management to build the most powerful space telescope ever. I summarize the key results of the JWST and discuss future telescopes.
John C. Mather (Sun,) studied this question.