If you ask almost any of them, do you stand behind your theory, is this the answer, I think they would almost every one say that no, no, no, I'm just trying to expand the range of possibilities. We really don't know what is going on.

Nobody really expects a Nobel Prize call

It seemed like my favourite kind of job - a wonderful chance to ask something absolutely fundamental: the fate of the Universe and whether the Universe was infinite or not

As a scientist, you feel a sense of team spirit for your country but you also have a sense of team spirit for the international community.

If you ask almost any of them, do you stand behind your theory, is this the answer, I think they would almost every one say that no, no, no, I'm just trying to expand the range of possibilities. We really don't know what is going on.

So it's possible that someday, by understanding a little bit more about how the world works, it will come back to help us in some other way that will be surprising

It's an unusual opportunity, a chance for so many people to share in the excitement and the fun of the fact that we may be on to hints as to what the Universe is made out of. I guess the whole point of a prize like this is to be able to get that out into the community