Nobel Prize in Physics to Michel Mayor, James Peebles and Didier Queloz

The Nobel Prize for the year 2019 in physics will be awarded to Didier Queloz, Canadian American physicist James Peebles and Swiss scientists Michel Mayor, announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recently.

James Peebles won the prize for two of his works, first “theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology”, and the other he jointly shared with Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for “the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star”.

Soon after the announcement, James Peebles said, “My advice to young people entering science: you should do it for the love of science. You should enter science because you are fascinated by it”.

Meanwhile, the official Twitter handle of the Nobel Prize said, “James Peebles’s theoretical framework, developed over two decades, is the foundation of our modern understanding of the universe’s history, from the Big Bang to the present day”.

In the year 1995, astrophysicist Michel Mayor and astronomer Didier Queloz discovered the first exoplanet, a planet which is outside our solar system and which is orbiting a solar-type star, 51 Pegasi. The two scientists, reacting to their win, said it was “simply extraordinary”.

The Nobel Academy in a statement said, “The 2019 prize 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. The discoveries have forever changed our conceptions of the world”.

The Nobel Prize consists of 9 million Swedish krona which is about $914,000. The amount will be divided, with one half to James Peebles and the other half to be shared by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. The winners will also receive a gold medal and a diploma.

On December 10th, the medals will be awarded at a ceremony in Stockholm, on the death anniversary of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, who created the prizes in his will.

The Nobel Prize for Physics was announced a day after three researchers from Britain and the US were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discoveries on how cells sense and adapt to the oxygen availability. The prize for Chemistry will be announced today.

The Swedish Academy will also announce the Nobel Prize in Literature for both 2018 and 2019 on Thursday. The 2018 award was postponed for the first time in its 70 years history, after a scandal of sexual harassment hit the board of the academy.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced from Oslo, Norway. Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has emerged as the ‘bookies favorite’ this year.

At last, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 2019 in the memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on October 14, thus wrapping up the Nobel Prize for the season.