The Nobel Prize in Physics has been mutually awarded to James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their contributions in understanding the universe.
Award ceremony was held in Stockholm where one half of the prize was awarded to Peebles for “theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and the other half to Mayor and Queloz for “the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar type star”.
committee of Nobel prize stated that “This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics rewards new understanding of the universe’s structure and history, and the first discovery of a planet orbiting a solar type star outside our solar system”.
Further mentioned that “The discoveries have forever changed our conceptions of the world”.
Half of the 9 million Swedish krona ($910,000) prize will be given to Peebles, while Mayor and Queloz will divided the rest.
James Peebles belongs to Albert Einstein and Professor of Science at Princeton University. He gave advice for upcoming scientists at a press conference that “you should do it for the love of science, you should enter science because you are fascinated by it”.
According to the committee Peebles developed a theoretical framework that forms the basis of our understanding of the history of the universe done in two decades. His models disclose that we only know about 5% of the content of our universe, while the remaining 95% consisting of unknown dark matter and dark energy.
Michel Mayor is from Switzerland and teaches at the University of Geneva. Didier Queloz teaches at the University of Geneva and the University of Cambridge. Both have explored home galaxy, the Milky Way, looking for unknown worlds. They made the first discovery of a planet outside our solar system, an exoplanet, orbiting a solar type star in 1995.
Professor Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge greeted Peebles as “the most influential and respected leader of empirical cosmology with a sustained record of achievement spanning half a century”. Mayor and Queloz as “great leaders in the ongoing research that has led to the discovery of many thousands of other planetary systems, exhibiting an unexpected variety.”