为表彰他们发现宇宙膨胀的速度在增加，显示即使没有物质与任何辐射，空间的能量密度仍然大於零。
索尔．普密特，亚当．利斯 与 布莱．施米兹获得2006年邵逸夫天文学奖是为了表彰他们率领了两组研究员，惊人地发现宇宙膨胀速度在增加。虽然爱因斯坦早在刚创建广义相对论以后即曾讨论过此可能，但是他始终认为那只是数学上的可能，与现实宇宙无关。以后的宇宙学家们完全同意他的看法。所以1998年两组研究员的发现震惊了整个科学界。此发现将会革新我们对物理世界的了解，与对宇宙的未来的预测。
Einstein replaced Newton’s conception of gravitation as a force with general relativity, which views gravitation as the dynamics of spacetime. In 1917 he applied his theory to the universe as a whole. He made two assumptions: the universe is homogeneous on average and static; and it is closed on itself, a curved volume of space with no boundary. However, Einstein’s equations have no such solutions unless an extra term is inserted that acts as a repulsion to offset the gravitational attraction of matter for itself. Thus were born both modern cosmology and the notion of a cosmological constant, Lambda.
In 1929 Hubble found that the universe is expanding, a feature that Friedmann and Lemaître had shown were necessary consequences of Einstein’s equations if Lambda were zero. There are then three models depending on whether the geometry of space is closed, Euclidean, or open. All three models are characterized by a deceleration in the expansion from a big bang.
