“In a universe which is (dominated) by matter, one would expect gravity eventually should make the expansion slow down. Imagine then the utter astonishment when two groups of scientists headed by this year’s Nobel laureates in 1998 (discovered) that the expansion was not slowing down, it was actually accelerating. By comparing the brightness of distant, far-away supernovae with the brightness of nearby supernovae, the scientists discovered that the far-away supernovae were about 25 percent too faint. They were too far away. The universe was accelerating. And so this discovery is (fundamental) and a milestone for cosmology. And a challenge for generations of scientists to come.”