Nobel Physics Prize announcement delayed

The announcement of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics has been delayed for at least an hour, the Swedish Nobel Foundation said Tuesday.

The winners of this year's prize were scheduled to have been unveiled at 945 GMT, but it will now not happen until 1045 GMT at the earliest, the foundation said.

No explanation was given for the delay, but the committee's website carried the following message: "The Academy is still in session."

The Academy refers to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which hands out the Nobel prize in physics, chemistry and economics.

The Academy votes on the committee's recommendation just before the announcement is made.

Like in 2012, this year's physics prize is highly anticipated amid expectations that it will recognise the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle.

Without the Higgs, say theorists, all joined-up atoms in the universe would not exist.