Nobel Prize in Physics 1978

Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa

Photo: Nikolai Lavrentiev. Nobel Foundation archive

Prize share: 1/2

Arno Allan Penzias

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Prize share: 1/4

Robert Woodrow Wilson

Photo: Harris & Ewing. 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"

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MLA style: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2026. Wed. 12 Aug 2026. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/summary/>

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