Three scientists were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for their work to understand the universe on a grand scale.
Why it matters: The discoveries made by these laureates have changed the way scientists understand planets outside our solar system and the evolution of the cosmos.
Winners: Two of the scientists — Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz — were honored for discovering the first planet orbiting a sunlike star far from our own.
- Mayor and Queloz will split the prize with James Peebles, who won for his theoretical framework that explains the history of the universe.
The impact: Mayor and Queloz's discovery of the planet 51 Pegasi b in 1995 effectively ushered in a new age of astrophysics.
- Since then, more than 4,000 planets outside of our solar system — called exoplanets — have been discovered, revealing the huge diversity of worlds out there in the universe.
- While no true "Earth 2.0" has yet been confirmed, it's not far-fetched to think that astronomers one day could find a world capable of supporting life outside of our solar system.
