STOCKHOLM, Oct 3: Two US schientists John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for work that helped cement the big-bang theory of how the universe was created and deepen understanding of the origin of galaxies and stars.

The scientists shared the prestigious US$1.4 million award for discovering the nature of “blackbody radiation” — cosmic background radiation believed to stem from the big bang — the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm said.

Mather, 60, and Smoot, 61, based their work on measurements done with the help of the NASA-launched Cosmic Background Explorer satellite in 1989.

They were able to observe the universe in its early stages about 380,000 years after it was born. Ripples in the light they detected also helped demonstrate how galaxies came together over time.—AP