2011 Nobel Prize in Physics
The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt1 for their discovery, in 1998, of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae. The prize, given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, was presented on 4 October this year.
While a surprise to the scientific community of the time, the notion that the universe’s expansion is accelerating is now a well-grounded foundation in modern cosmology. The discovery, which addressed Einstein’s cosmological constant, both constrained the ultimate fate of the universe to never-ending cooling and expansion, whilst also establishing the concept of dark energy as the driving force for such. Dark energy which is believed to form around 75 per cent of the matter and energy in the universe.
“It’s really a fitting prize. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes a startling new revelation in our understanding of the cosmos. Based on measurements from the last 15 years, we now know that the expansion of our universe is not slowing, as was believed since the Big Bang theory first emerged, but that its expansion is actually accelerating. This acceleration has been the dominant force in the cosmos since our universe was about half its current age,” said . H. Frederick Dylla, the CEO of the American Institute of Physics.
“This discovery also provides additional insights into Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a cornerstone of physics and our understanding of the universe. So this discovery not only helps us understand the evolution of the universe, but it also gives us new insights into how it may end. It shows science at its best, where a startling discovery was made and confirmed by two independent teams.”
The prize itself totals 10 million Swedish krona, with Perlmutter receiving one half of the award, and Riess and Schmidt the other.
For more information, please visit the Nobel Prize website.
- Of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley; the Australian National University; and the Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute, respectively. [↩]
