Watch a scientist learn his life’s work has paid off

Yesterday, Maclean’s associate editor Kate Lunau wrote this story about scientists discovering that cosmic inflation theory—the idea that the universe expanded exponentially in the initial moments after the Big Bang—is very likely true. The discovery is viewed as “one that would usher in a new era of physics,” Lunau writes in her article.

The man who did much of the original theoretical research in the years before the discovery is Stanford Professor Andrei Linde. Prof. Linde was due to be on vacation when news of the successful experiment was announced. So Chao-Lin Kuo, an assistant professor at Stanford, visited Linde’s home to deliver the good news, and offer a toast. Stanford also send along a videographer to capture the moment.

Here’s what it looks like to learn that 30 years of hard work finally paid off.