Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 awarded to astrophysicists
Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 for their theoretical and experimental research into the expansion of the universe through investigating supernovas. In 1998 they discovered, to their own surprise, that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The prize will be awarded on 10 December 2011 in Stockholm.
The American Perlmutter will receive half of the prize of one million euros for his theoretical work. His countryman Schmidt performed measurements on stellar explosions and shares half of the prize with the Australian Riess, who is closely involved with the Hubble Space Telescope.
What exactly lies behind the accelerated expansion of the universe is still a mystery. If the process continues then the universe will end up frozen. "The nature of the energy responsible for the accelerated expansion is unknown. Dark energy and dark matter will dominate the research agenda of fundamental physics over the next few years," predicts Bob van Eijk from the FOM Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef. Colleague Jan Willem van Holten adds: "With this light has literally been thrown on the dark side of the universe. Now the greatest challenge facing astrophysics is to discover what dark matter and dark energy really consist of. The building blocks of three-quarters of the universe are still unknown !".
Further information
About the Nobel Prize for Physics 2011:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011/press.html