Nobel Prize for Physics, 2011

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 was awarded "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess.

Prior to this discovery it was assumed that rate of expansion is slowing down and universe will remain more or less same as it is today.The discovery of "Accelerated" expansion of universe means that ultimately the universe will be in super cool temperature .The ultimate fate of the universe is also called as "Big Rip"(which indicates splitting apart of galaxies)

The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, a cosmic force which is a mystery and scientists have little idea what that is. It is estimated that dark energy -- a kind of inverse gravity, repelling matter that comes close to it -- accounts for around three quarters of the universe.