Berlin - Two Italians were among eight foreigners who shared a prestigious German science prize on Tuesday.

Daniele Oriti and Cinzia Casiraghi were honoured with the Sofja Kovalesvskaja Prize for their research in physics.

The award, worth up to 1.65 million euros (2.09 million dollars), is funded by the Ministry of Research and Development with the aim of attracting young researchers to Germany.

Oriti, who has studied in Rome and Cambridge, is currently conducting research at the MPI Institute for Gravitational Physics at Potsdam, near Berlin.

His research in theoretical physics could provide basic answers to questions related to space and time and thus shed light on the origins of the universe, the citation said.

Casiraghi, a former student of the Politecnico di Milano who is now researching at Berlin's Free University, was honoured for her work in experimental solid state physics.

The prize is named after Sofja Kovalevskaja, a Russian-born mathematician who studied in Germany before becoming a professor at the University of Stockholm in 1889. (dpa)