Brian Schmidt
Schmidt and Adam Riess led the High-z Supernova Search Team which found evidence that the Universe's expansion rate is now accelerating. They discovered this by looking at Type 1a Supernova. The discovery was the opposite of the current theory that the expansion of the universe was slowing down. By studying the color shifts in the light from the supernova from Earth, they discovered that these billion-year old nova were still accelerating. This result was also found about the same time by the Supernova Cosmology Project, led by Saul Perlmutter. With two studies getting the same result scientists now accept the accelerating universe theory. New research is now trying to understand the nature of the universe, such as the existence of dark matter. The discovery of the accelerating universe was named 'Breakthrough of the Year' by Science Magazine in 1998. Schmidt was jointly awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Reiss and Perlmutter for their groundbreaking work.