STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Two U.S. scientists have been selected to receive the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on cosmic data looking at the origin of cosmological bodies.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in an announcement Tuesday, said John C. Mather, 60, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and George F. Smoot, 61, of the University of California-Berkeley, were selected for research that looks to the very beginnings of time. They will receive the prize, and share a cash award of about $1.4 million in ceremonies Dec. 10 in Sweden.
The academy cited research with data from a National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite launched in 1989 to help understanding the origin of galaxies and stars through study of cosmic microwave background radiation.
The 2006 Nobel Prizes will be announced over the next two weeks, with the Chemistry Prize unveiled Wednesday and wrapping up with the Peace Prize announcement on Oct. 13. Two U.S. scientists won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, announced Monday.
