Stockholm: The Nobel Prize in Physics have been awarded to three scientists for their work in discoveries about the Universe and for finding an Exo-planet orbiting a Sun like star.
The award is being shared by James Peebles, Didier Queloz, and Michel Mayor.
While James Peebles won the honor for his work on the evolution of the Universe, Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor won the prize for finding 51 Pegasi b, a giant gas planet orbiting a star 50 light years away.
The Canadian James Peebles contributed in understanding the evolution of the Universe and our place in the cosmos. He was one among those who predicted the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation that has been one of the strongest evidence that supports the Big Bang Theory. CMB was later discovered in 1965.
Scientists have been able to determine the age, shape and the contents of the Universe by studying the CMB. Peebles theoretical discoveries gave meaning to the wonderful high-precision measurements about the radiation.
He also made huge contributions to the theory of dark matter and dark energy which makes up 95% of the Universe.
The Princeton based cosmologist was also instrumental in developing the theoretical framework which described how galaxies and other large structures evolved from the density fluctuations of the early Universe.
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discovered the first ever Exo-planet orbiting another star like our Sun. They were working at the University of Geneva when they made the discovery.
They used radial velocity technique which helps in detecting distant planets indirectly by observing the wobbles of a distant star when tugged by a big planet orbiting that star.
All the three winners will share the prize money of nine million kronor or GBP 7,38,000.
