A scientist born and raised in Manitoba is the joint winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics.
James Peebles is one of three people who have won this year for their contributions to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place within it.
Peebles was born in St. Boniface and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Manitoba before moving to Princeton for graduate school.
Currently a physics professor at Princeton, Peebles won the award “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology.”
In announcing the award in Sweden Tuesday, the Nobel committee said that Peebles’ work laid a foundation for the transformation of cosmology over the last 50 years and is the basis of our contemporary ideas about the universe.
Peebles said the awards and prizes are “very much appreciated” but said that’s not why young people should study the sciences.
“You should enter it for the love of the science,” he said.
“You should enter science because you are fascinated by it. That’s what I did.”
He shares the prize with Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz won “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.”
The three men will share a 9 million kronor (C$1.2 million) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates will receive them at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
With files from Canadian Press
CHEK News
