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PHOTOGRAPH BY ARNOLD NEWMAN, VIA GETTY IMAGES
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At 6, Arno Penzias had to escape the Nazis. A stranger from New Jersey sponsored him. That escape from the Holocaust allowed Penzias, years later (pictured above), to confirm a great leap forward for all humanity: the Big Bang Theory.
It wasn’t until 2012 that the family of the Nobel-winning astrophysicist tracked down the identity of the sponsor. Bernard Yudin, a New Jersey paint merchant who had requested anonymity in his sponsorship, died in 1950 of cancer and never would know what Penzias did. Even the surviving Yudins didn’t know of Bernard’s kindness until they met the Penzias descendants.
“He did what he did because it was right and didn’t mention it to anybody, Yudin’s great-grandson, Joe, tells Nat Geo. “He knew that they got out. I think that’s all he needed.” The younger Yudin noted that many geniuses were among the millions killed by the Nazis—and expressed gratitude that one shining star, Arno Penzias, escaped.
Read the full story here.
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