The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978

Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Prize share: 1/2

Arno Allan Penzias

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Prize share: 1/4

Robert Woodrow Wilson

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Prize share: 1/4

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 was divided, one half awarded to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics", the other half jointly to Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation"

To cite this section
MLA style: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Mon. 26 Sep 2022. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/summary/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Coming up

2022 Nobel Prize announcements

This year’s Nobel Prize announcements will take place 3–10 October. All announcements will be streamed live here on nobelprize.org.

See the full schedule
Announcement dates

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.