2011 Nobel Prize in Physics Supernovae explosions and the Accelerating Universe

This year, 2011, the nobel prize in physics is given to three astronomers (Perlmutter, Schmidt, Riess) 'for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae'. In my seminar talk, I will thus present first some basic astrophysics on supernovae star explosions and the cosmological principle of an expanding Universe. Next, I will summarize the observations and measurements of the two teams behind the noble prize winners and show how the simplest explanations of the unexpected findings lead to the concept of an accelerating Universe. I will end my talk with an outlook on ongoing and future efforts to measure the equation-of-state of the Dark Energy postulated to explain the observations. (author)