Both of these awards tell us something important, and our position in the universe has some practical significance.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Geeks Park” (ID: Geekpark), author Moonshot.
Beijing time on October 7th at 5:50 pm, the Nobel Committee announced the winner of the 113th Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019: Canadian American theoretical cosmologist James Peebles (James) Peebles), Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Among them, Peebles has discovered the theoretical framework of physical cosmology in the past 20 years, which has become the basis of theoretical interpretation since the Big Bang. Mayor and Queiroz won the award for discovering the first exoplanet outside the solar system in 1995. The three winners will be divided equally between 9 million Swedish kronor (approximately RMB 6.47 million).
The Nobel Prize Committee said on Twitter: “This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics Awards has refreshed people’s understanding of the universe’s architecture and history, and for the first time discovered the achievements of the first solar-based exoplanet.”
Nobel Committee member Ulf Danielsson said: “These two awards tell us something important, and our position in the universe has some practical significance.” p>
2019 Nobel Prize in Physics | Nobel Prize Website
The Nobel Prize in Physics rules stipulates that the winner’s contribution must be “tested by time.” This means that the Nobel Committee will often award awards for decades after scientific discovery. Therefore, the discovery of these three winners in the 1990s has won the highest honor in the field of physics today after a long period of more than 20 years.
Modern physics transformation from speculation to science
In the 1960s, astronomers discovered stars, galaxies, and gas clouds through telescopes.The boundaries of the observable universe are exhibited, but there is never a reasonable theory of the history of the universe and the theory of evolution. Since 1970, Peebles has used theoretical tools and computational methods to explain the evolution of the universe and the position of the Earth in the universe. It explains that the microwave background radiation is the imprint of the big bang, and he constitutes 95% of the universe. The dark matter and dark energy theory made important contributions.
The main contribution of Peebles | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
It’s hard to say that one of James Peebles’ discoveries earned him the honor. At the press conference of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Peebles stated that “this is a lifelong work and a collaborative work.” The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated that Peebles’ contribution to physical cosmology “enriched the entire field of research and laid the foundation for the cosmological transition from speculation to science in the past 50 years.”
The physical framing framework of Peebles from the big bang model to dark matter and dark energy has also become the basis of contemporary physics research.
The discovery of the astronomical revolution: “Pegasus 51b”
The other two winners of the Nobel Prize, Mayor and Queiroz, won the award for discovering the first exoplanet outside the solar system in 1995.
In 1995, at the Provence Observatory in southern France, the 29-year-old Swiss astronomer Queiroz and his doctoral tutor Meyer, who studied how the surrounding planets tow and influence the movement of stars, based on The Puller effect uses the radial velocity method to discover the first exoplanet, Pegasus 51b. “Pegasus 51b” is a wood-like planet similar to Jupiter in the solar system. It is surrounded by a solar-like star “Pegasus 51” about 50 light-years from Earth.
Pegasus 51| Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
This is the first exoplanet discovered by humans around a sun-like star. This discoveryIt gave birth to an astronomical revolution. Astronomers not only obtained a large amount of observation data from “Pegasus 51b”, but the existence of “Pegasus 51b” also overturned the prevailing theory of planetary formation, that is, “the giant planet will not be like this.” Close to the parent star, it made scientists realize that giant planets may also exist in short-period orbits. Since then, astronomers have been searching for exoplanets, and more than 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered so far.
After 24 years since the discovery of the classy planet “Pegasus 51b”, more and more terrestrial planets have also been discovered. As space exploration in the 21st century re-emerges as a global issue, astronomers follow Start exploring some issues, such as the existence of extraterrestrial life and whether there is a “second earth” that humans can travel to.
Father’s Biography
James Peebles
James Peebles was born in 1935 as a Canadian-American theoretical physicist. He taught at Princeton University and is an honorary science professor at Princeton University in Albert Einstein. Since 1970, he has made theoretical contributions to the fields of primitive nuclear synthesis, dark matter, cosmic microwave background and structure formation. His theoretical framework has shaped the basis of today’s history of the formation of the universe. His three textbooks, Physical Cosmology (1971), The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe (1980), Principles of Physical Cosmology (1993), has become a reference for standards in the field of physical cosmology.
Before the Nobel Prize in Physics, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society (1982), the Danny Heinemann Astrophysics Award (1982), and the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (1998). ), Shao Yifu Award (2004), and the same as the Crawford Award (2005) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Michel Mayor
Michelle Meyer was born in 1942 as a Swiss astronomer who taught at the Department of Astronomy at the University of Geneva. In 1995, together with Didier Queiroz, the first planet Pegasus 51b, which surrounds the solar star Pegasus 51, was discovered.

In 2007, Meyer discovered the Gliese 581c with the other 10 European scientists at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, the first extrasolar planet in the habitable zone.
In 2009, Meyer and his team discovered the Gryzer 581e, the smallest extrasolar planet that surrounds the main sequence star.
Before the Nobel Prize in Physics, he received the Marcel Benoit Award for Swiss or Swiss Residency Scientist; the French Astronomical Society’s highest award Pierre Jeanson Award; Abel The Einstein Medal (2004), the Run Run Shaw Prize (2005), and the Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal (2015).
Didier Queloz
Didié Quiloz was born in 1966 as a Swiss astronomer, working in the Astrophysics Group at the Cavendish Research Laboratory in Cambridge and at the University of Geneva. In 1995, Queiroz, who was also a Ph.D. student at the University of Geneva, and his doctoral tutor, Michel Meyer, discovered the method of radial velocity measurement to analyze Pegasus 51 and found an orbital period of 4.2 days. Planet Pegasus 51b.
Before the Nobel Prize in Physics, he and Michelle Meyer jointly won the 2011 BBVA Basic Science Knowledge Frontier Award and the Wolff Physics Award (2017).
About Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is one of five awards established in 1900 based on Nobel’s widow to reward scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the field of human physics. Currently, the annual Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to up to three people and two different scientific studies. Compared with other Nobel Prizes, the recommendation and selection process of the Physics Prize is longer and more elaborate. The Nobel Prize in Physics has thus risen to become the most important award in the field of physics. The Nobel Prize in Physics is widely regarded as the highest honor that can be achieved in the field of physics.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is composed of five members elected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The first round of Nobel Prize in Physics is held in September each year, including university professors, Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry Prize winners. Approximately 3,000 people will receive a confidential nomination form. CommitteeAfter the review, about 15 of the nominees will be selected and the final candidate will be submitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences. The Royal Academy of Sciences finally selected the winners by majority vote.
On October 2, 2018, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics to Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland for their foundation work in laser physics.