Berkeley Physicist Shares 2011 Nobel Prize

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- California physicist Saul Perlmutter says nobody expects to win a Nobel Prize.

The Berkeley scientist is one of three physicists who won the Nobel Prize in physics for a study of exploding stars that discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Saul Perlmutter will share the $1.5 million award with US-Australian Brian Schmidt and US scientist Adam Riess for discovering the accelerating expansion of the universe.

Perlmutter answered the telephone before dawn at his home and heard Swedish reporter asking for his reaction.

The 52-year-old Perlmutter didn't know what the reporter was talking about.

His wife then looked at the computer and told him it wasn't a hoax.

Perlmutter heads the Supernova Cosmology Project at the University of California, Berkeley.