Philae comet landing announced 2014 'Physics world breakthrough of year'

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, which managed to land the of a man-made spacecraft on the surface of a comet has been announced as "Physics world breakthrough of year" for 2014.

From a shortlist of 10 highly commended breakthroughs, the historic achievement by scientists working on the Rosetta mission was singled out by the Physics World editorial team for its significance and fundamental importance to space science.

The landing of the Philae probe, which captivated not only the physics community but millions of people worldwide, was the culmination of 10 years' work by scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), who successfully guided the Rosetta spacecraft through the inner solar system to finally meet up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August.

To celebrate the achievement, Physics World hosted a Google Hangout with members of the Rosetta team on 12 December.

The Physics World editorial team has recognized a further nine achievements from 2014 in a range of topics from nuclear physics to nanotechnology. The top 10 breakthroughs were selected using the following criteria: fundamental importance of research; significant advance in knowledge; strong connection between theory and experiment; and general interest to all physicists.