Nobel winners’ work illustrated with coffee cup

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics will be awarded Tuesday, a day after two Americans and one British scientist were awarded the award for Physiology or Medicine. This year, the Nobel week will include an award in chemistry — to be announced Wednesday — two literature laureates, the coveted Nobel Peace Prize and the economics award. This year’s double-header Literature Prizes will be awarded Thursday and the Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The economics prize will be awarded on Oct. 14. The 2018 literature prize was suspended after a scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The body plans to award it this year, along with announcing the 2019 laureate. Three scientists have won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and “Earth’s place in the cosmos.”

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"Discoveries in physical cosmology"

One half of the award was given to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology,” and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.” They will share a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates will receive them at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
Two Swiss scientists are celebrating their Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. 

The University of Geneva has quoted Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz as saying that “this discovery is the most exciting of our whole career and for it to be rewarded with a Nobel Prize is simply extraordinary.” Mayor and Queloz announced their discovery of the planet, known as 51 Pegasi B, 24 years ago. Mayor recalled that “no one knew whether exoplanets existed or not. Prestigious astronomers had been searching for them for years, in vain!”

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Canada-born James Peebles, who won the other half of the award “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology,” was asked what he would tell young scientists. He told a news conference that “you should enter it for the love of science. You should enter science because you are fascinated by it.” A member of the Swedish Science Academy has recited the first lines of the theme song of TV show “The Big Bang Theory” that “our whole universe was in a hot, dense state. Then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started ...” At a news conference where the winners were announced, professor Ulf Danielsson used a transparent cup with black coffee, poured milk in it and added a pinch of sugar to illustrate the work of the laureates of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics— James Peebles, Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz.

He added, “This is the dark energy, then a fair amount of cream, this is the dark matter, and then just a tiny little bit of sugar. This is the ordinary matter, this is what science has been all about for thousands of years.”

Peeble, the Nobel Prize winner

Danielsson went on, “We had thought that other solar systems would be similar to our own. We were wrong.” Peebles was cited “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” while Mayor and Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.” Princeton University cosmologist James Peebles says he answered a 5:30 a.m. phone call on Tuesday thinking “it’s either something very wonderful or it’s something horrible.” His fear quickly gave way to fulfillment: Peebles had won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his theoretical discoveries in cosmology. The 84-year-old Canadian-American said “there was a formality” to the call as he was asked, “Will you accept this award?” He did.

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Hours later, a clearly delighted Peebles giggled throughout an interview with the Associated Press. He said “I’ve always loved Bob Dylan” and referred to the singer-songwriter winning the 2016 literature prize and refusing to participate in Nobel ceremonies. Peebles said, laughing: “I can’t forgive him for not showing up to the scene of (his) Nobel prize....It’s very disconcerting.” He said he looks forward to traveling to the Swedish capital with his wife and two surviving children to accept his prize since “we haven’t been to Stockholm for many years.”

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