2015 Nobel Physics Prize awarded to two scientists who unveiled the mysteries of neutrinos

The 2015 Nobel Physics Prize laureates — (Image credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to two particle physicists, Takaaki Kajita in Japan and Arthur B. McDonald in Canada, for their discovery of neutrino oscillations and the resulting evidence that subatomic neutrino particles have mass. "The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe," the academy explained in a news release. Those findings "have yielded crucial insights into the all but hidden world of neutrinos. After photons, the particles of light, neutrinos are the most numerous in the entire cosmos."

The two scientists will share the $960,000 prize as well as the honor of winning the same award as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Niels Bohr.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.