STOCKHOLM (AFP) - US scientists David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek won the 2004 Nobel Physics Prize for pioneering work in explaining quarks, nature's tiniest building blocks.
"The discovery which is awarded this year's Nobel Prize is of decisive importance for our understanding of how the theory of one of nature's fundamental forces works, the force that ties together the smallest pieces of matter -- the quarks," the jury said Tuesday.
By an elegant mathematical formula, the laureates have enabled science to finally dream about finding explanations for some of nature's greatest enigmas in cosmos, such as the dark matter that seems to dominate space.
Their work is an important step in scientists' attempts to provide a unified description of all forces of nature -- "a theory for everything".
Science's current best shot at such a theory is the Standard Model of Particle Physics, which describes the smallest objects in nature and how they interact.
Quarks build the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus, atoms join up to form molecules, the molecules build up structures, "and in this way the whole universe can finally be described."
The trio's specific discovery, made three decades ago, concerns the so-called strong force, or "colour force", which is dominant in the atomic nucleus.
The Nobel jury acknowledged that the relevance of their discovery for daily life can appear hard to grasp. But using the example of a coin spinning on a table, it said that 80 percent of the coin's weight is due to the interaction between quarks.
"This year's Nobel Prize is about this interaction," it said.
The laureates will receive a gold medal and share a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor (1.1 million euros, 1.3 million dollars) at the formal prize ceremony held, as tradition dictates, on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of the prize's creator Alfred Nobel.
On Monday, the Nobel Medicine Prize went to US research duo Richard Axel and Linda Buck for their pioneering work on mammals' sense of smell.
The Chemistry Prize will be announced on Wednesday, the Literature Prize on Thursday and the Peace Prize on Friday. This year's edition of the coveted prizes rounds off with the announcement of the Economics Prize on October 11.