Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 awarded for contribution to study of the universe
«This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics 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 press release informs. «This year’s Laureates have transformed our ideas about the cosmos.»
The theoretical basis developed by Peebles in the past two decades «laid a foundation for the transformation of cosmology over the last fifty years, from speculation to science», forming the basis of the contemporary ideas about the universe, the committee said, TASS reports.
In 1995, Mayor and Queloz discovered the first exoplanet outside the Solar System. «At the Haute-Provence Observatory in southern France, using custom-made instruments, they were able to see planet 51 Pegasi b, a gaseous ball comparable with the solar system’s biggest gas giant, Jupiter,» the press release stated. «This discovery started a revolution in astronomy and over 4,000 exoplanets have since been found in the Milky Way.».