The news of him winning the Nobel Prize was an earth-shaking event in the scientific community.

earth-shaking 是由 earth（地球）和 shaking（震动）组成的复合形容词，shaking 是动词 shake 的现在分词形式。 earth-shaking 字面意思是"震撼地球的"，比喻"极其重大的、引起轰动的"，形容事件影响巨大。