A scientist trio has won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for their fascinating discoveries about the black holes. Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez are the bright minds sharing the Nobel Physics Prize 2020, worth 10 million Swedish krona (8,23,63,020 INR ). Announcing the award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science said that the prize was divided, one half awarded to Roger Penrose for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.
“This year’s laureates have uncovered secrets in the darkest corner of our universe. But this is not just an old adventure coming to its triumphant conclusion, but a new one beginning. As we probe ever closer to the horizons of the black holes, nature might have new surprises in store,” said Ulf Danielsson, the professor of theoretical physics at Uppsala University in Sweden.
Dr.Roger Penrose of Britain, a professor at the University of Oxford, used ingenious mathematical methods and proved that the black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein himself did not believe that black holes really exist. In January 1965, ten years after Einstein’s death, Roger Penrose proved that black holes really can form and described them in detail. This groundbreaking article is still considered as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein.
Since the early 1990s, Dr. Reinhard Genzel (Germany) and Dr. Andrea Ghez (U.S.) lead a group of astronomers that focused on a region called Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. They developed the methods to see through the huge clouds of interstellar gas and dust to the center of the Milky Way with the help of the world’s largest telescopes. They refined new techniques to compensate for distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, building unique instruments and committing themselves to long-term research. Their work has given us the most convincing evidence yet of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Here, Dr. Andrea Ghez becomes the fourth woman ever to receive the Nobel Prize in physics.
This year’s prize certainly motivates more young minds to get into researches related to black holes. David Haviland, chair of the physics prize committee, said “this year’s award celebrates one of the most exotic objects in the Universe.”
Reference : NobelPrize.Org
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