The Nobel Prize medal won by Brian Schmidt has gone on display at the national science centre in Canberra.

"You know a Nobel Prize is really something symbolic of what an entire nation is working on in science," he said.

"I thought having the Nobel Prize just sitting in my office where I was really going to have to end up probably sitting it in a safe seemed pointless, and so I really wanted to share it and let everyone look at it because it's quite a beautiful thing."

Director of Questacon Professor Graham Durant says he is very excited to have the medal on display for at least the next three years.