Yoichiro Nambu, a Tokyo-born American citizen, and Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan are the lucky recipients of this prize - honoured for separate work on spontaneous broken symmetries.
Nambu discovered the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in sub-atomic particles, which granted him this recognition and half the US$1.4 million award.
Kobayashi and Maskawa share the other half of the prestigious prize for their work on predicting the existence of three or more families of sub-atomic "quark particles" in nature.
The committee said that, "The fact that our world does not behave perfectly symmetrically is due to deviations from symmetry at the microscopic level."
Kobayashi was shocked at the news exclaiming that, "It is my great honour and I can't believe this," as although the award is being given now their breakthroughs came in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Nobel Committee for Physics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards this prize as the second of this year's Nobel awards.
2008 physics Nobel Prize awarded
By
Emma Hughes
on Oct 8, 2008 6:55AM
The 2008 Nobel Prize for Physics is shared by three scientists for unique discoveries in sub-atomic particles the prize committee announced today.
Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Partner Content
Partner Content
Unblocking your organisation's data flows
Promoted Content
New report reveals opportunities to address weak security in APAC organisations
Partner Content
Taking the fast track to B2B digital fitness
Partner Content
Setting a digital trajectory for Victoria's courts system
Sponsored Whitepapers
Tomago Aluminium improves SAP environment performance, security with Red Hat and IBM
Future of work: Support your distributed HR workforce with digital document processes
Develop a resiliency strategy that integrates risk analysis & continuity management
.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
IBM Maximo: Manage any asset, anytime, any place with mobile EAM
.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
Optimise your operations with APM and AI-Powered insights
