3 scientists win Nobel physics prize for black hole research

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics this Tuesday for advancing our understanding of black holes.
Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany, and Andrea Ghez explained to the world these dead ends of the cosmos that prey light and even time. According to both science fact and fiction, black holes are still not completely understood. But now are deeply connected, somehow, to the creation of galaxies, where the stars and life exist.

Penrose, of the University of Oxford, received half of the prize. He discovered that Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts the formation of black holes. Genzel is at both the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the University of California, Berkeley. And Ghez is of the University of California, Los Angeles. They both received the other half of the prize for discovering a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

The prize celebrates what the Nobel Committee called “one of the most exotic objects in the universe”. And also the ones that “still pose many questions that beg for answers and motivate future research.”

What are Black Holes?

Black holes are at the center of every galaxy, and smaller ones are dotted around the universe. Just their existence is mind-bending, taking what people experience every day on Earth — light and time — and warping them in such a way that seems unreal. Time slows and even stops in black holes.

Ghez, 55, went to college as a math major because the concept of infinity fascinated her. Ghez said she is still studying infinity in a way because timeslows and even stops in these black holes. “Black holes are so hard to understand, that is what makes them so appealing,” Ghez said “I really think of science as a big, giant puzzle.”

Penrose, 89, with mathematics, based heavily on Einstein’s general theory of relativity proved that the formation of black holes. “Einstein did not himself believe that black holes really exist, these super-heavyweight monsters that capture everything that enters them,” the Nobel Committee said. “Nothing can escape, not even light.”

The British astronomer royal, Martin Rees said “Penrose and Hawking are the two individuals who have done more than anyone else to deepen our knowledge of gravity since Einstein”. “Sadly, this award was too much delayed to allow Hawking to share the credit.”

Hawking died in 2018. Nobel prizes are only awarded to the living.