French and American scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for their work with light and matter, which may lead the way to superfast computers and "the most precise clocks ever seen," the prize committee said.

Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the United States will share the $1.2 million prize, the second of six Nobel Prizes announced this month.

The award surprised those who expected the physics Nobel this year to be related to the discovery of the Higgs boson, considered one of the top scientific achievements of the past 50 years.