The Gillard Government is today delighted to congratulate Professor Brian Schmidt of the Australian National University for winning the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics, shared with his two fellow laureates, Americans Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess.
Professor Schmidt led one of two teams to make a remarkable discovery that the universe is actually blowing apart at an ever-increasing rate.
This discovery turned some of our most stable notions of the universe on its head and challenges our understanding of its very composition.
The Prime Minister said last night's award was a testament to the rigour and determination of these astronomers and their teams.
They stuck with their observations and made the theory fit the facts, however revolutionary and inconvenient.
Congratulations must also be extended to the international teams involved in the discovery including Australia's Dr Brian Boyle, Director of our bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio-telescope, and Professor Warwick Couch of Swinburne University.
It is another day on which Aussie researchers make Australians proud.
With only 0.3 per cent of the world's population we produce 3 per cent of its knowledge - and as this recognition shows, a lot of that is absolutely world-class.
Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said the Prize illustrated Australia's great strength as a centre of scientific research excellence; a country where the spirit of discovery was valued.
It is that spirit of discovery that has driven every genuine revolution in understanding in human history.
And it is the same spirit that drives Australia to seek to host the Square Kilometre Array, to deliver maximum discovery to the world.
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the largest science experiment our hemisphere has ever seen. It will deliver untold new insights into the universe, and spin off countless new technologies and provide high tech job opportunities along the way.