Nobel Prize for Physics awarded

(Vatican Radio) Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. Today the prize for physics has been announced.

The Nobel Prize in Physics was the prize area which Alfred Nobel mentioned first in his will. At the end of the nineteenth century, many people viewed physics as the foremost of the sciences, Nobel's own research was also closely tied to physics.

In 1901 the very first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays. In more recent years, the Physics Prize has been awarded for both pioneering discoveries and groundbreaking inventions.

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics continues that tradition, this year awarded to two researchers for their work with light and matter at the most fundamental level.

Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US share the prize

The Nobel citation said the award was for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems".

Their work with photons and ions, the basic units of light and matter could lead to advanced modes of communication and computation.

Listen to Matthew French, reporting from Scandinavia: