Eight scientists jointly received $1 million Kavli Prize which was announced on Thursday by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The prizes have been awarded to eight scientists from the U. S., Britain and Germany. The prizes have been given by Kavli Foundation which was set up by Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-American physicist, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

The prize for astrophysics will be shared by Jerry Nelson of the University of California, Santa Cruz; J. Roger P. Angel of the University of Arizona and by Raymond N. Wilson from the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany.

Dr. Nelson has helped build giant telescope mirrors like the ones used in the 10-meter-diameter Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, currently the largest on the planet.

Dr. Angel has been responsible for casting monolithic mirrors up to 8 meters in diameter in a rotating furnace. These will be a part of 25-meter telescope known as the Giant Magellan to be built in Chile.

Dr. Wilson is a pioneer in building technology known as active optics. His research has helped build astronomers mirrors that are thinner and lighter.

The prize for neuroscience will be shared between Thomas Südhof of the Stanford School of Medicine, Richard H. Scheller of Genentech and James E. Rothman of Yale.

The prize for nanoscience will be divided among Donald M. Eigler of I. B. M.’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., and Nadrian C. Seeman of New York University.