Physics Nobel Prize to be awarded among three scientists for discovery related to black holes

Photo Credits: Niklas Elmehed/ Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 2020 was conjointly granted to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez on Tuesday for their discoveries and inventions that have further enhanced the understanding of the universe, which also comprises of their research on black holes.

Dr. Roger Penrose was granted half the prize amount for his invention, “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.”

The second part of the winning amount was awarded jointly to be split between Dr. Reinhard Genzel and Dr. Andrea Ghez for “the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy” according to the committee.

About the winners:

Dr. Penrose, professor at the University of Oxford, utilized “ingenious mathematical methods” for verifying that black holes was a direct outcome of the theory of relativity given by Albert Einstein. 

Dr. Genzel, originally from Germany and Dr. Ghez from New York, directed a group of astronomers focusing on the Sagittarius A *. The scientists had generated different methods to watch through the huge clouds of interstellar gas and dust for the centre of the galaxy via the largest telescopes in the world.

Dr. Genzel presently works in Germany at Max Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics and University of California, Berkeley, whereas, Dr. Ghez works as a professor at University of California, Los Angeles.