BEIJING, Oct. 4 -- US scientists John C. Mather and George F. Smoot have won the Nobel Physics Prize for their work on the Big Bang theory on the origin of the universe. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the announcement on Tuesday.
The two scientists were awarded the prize for groundbreaking work on the nature of blackbody radiation. This is the cosmic background radiation believed to stem from the so-called Big Bang, after which the universe was created.
Gunnar Oquist, Permanent Secretary of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 2006 jointly to John Mather and George Smoot, they get the prize for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Both of the laureates are from the US."
Their work was based on measurements done with the help of the NASA-launched Cosmic Background Explorer, or COBE, satellite in 1989.
The measurements provided vital support for the Big Bang theory, which purports to explain the origin of the universe. According to this theory, the cosmos was formed from a cataclysmic explosion that happened nearly 14 billion years ago.
The Nobel jury said measurements also offered insights into the age of the universe, galaxies and stars.
Lars Bergstrom, Secretary of Nobel Committee for Physics said: "Of course this has completely changed cosmology. All these things that we speak about now like dark matter, dark energy, various parameters, limits on neutrino masses from cosmology all of these measurements were a starting point for all of this, it has opened the door to a while new field of cosmology."
This year's Nobel award announcements began on Monday with the Nobel Prize in Medicine also going to a pair of American scientists. The Chemistry Prize is next on the list. The Nobel Prize for Economics will be awarded next Monday, and the Peace Prize, next Friday in the Norweigian capital of Oslo. Enditem
(Source: CCTV.com)
