Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to three scientists for research on Earth's place in the universe

Three scientists have won the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics for their contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and "Earth's place in the cosmos".

The prize was given to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology," and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star," said Professor Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that chooses the laureates.

An exoplanet is a planet outside the solar system.

"This year's laureates have transformed our ideas about the cosmos," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said today when awarding the nine million Swedish crown ($AUD1.35 million) prize.

This was the 113th Nobel Prize in Physics awarded since 1901, of which 47 awards have been given to a single laureate.

Only three women have been awarded it so far: Marie Curie in 1903, Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963 and Donna Strickland in 2018, according to the Nobel website.

The announcement comes a day after the 2019 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine was also awarded to three scientists for their discoveries of "how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability".

William G Kaelin Jr, Peter J Ratcliffe and Gregg L Semenza received the award jointly from the Nobel Committee.

The trio's work has been dubbed as pioneering research into how human cells respond to changing oxygen levels.

The discoveries made by the three men "have fundamental importance for physiology and have paved the way for promising new strategies to fight anaemia, cancer and many other diseases".