One-half of the prize went to James Peebles, a dual citizen of Canada and the US, "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology" and the other half was awarded jointly to Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star."
"This year's laureates have contributed to answering fundamental questions about our existence," the academy says.
This year, the Nobel week will include an award in chemistry — to be announced Wednesday — two literature laureates, the coveted Nobel Peace Prize and the economics award.
This year's double-header Literature Prizes will be awarded Thursday and the Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. The economics prize will be awarded on Oct. 14.
The 2018 literature prize was suspended after a scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The body plans to award it this year, along with announcing the 2019 laureate.
More about: Nobel-prize physics
