Cappan/iStockBy JON HAWORTH, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Three scientists have been announced as the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday.
Roger Penrose was awarded half of the prize “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity,” while the other half was jointly awarded to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”
Penrose will take home half of the 9 million kronor ($1 million U.S.) cash award while Genzel and Ghez will split the other half of the prize money.
BREAKING NEWS:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2020 #NobelPrize in Physics with one half to Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. pic.twitter.com/MipWwFtMjz— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2020
“Roger Penrose showed that the general theory of relativity leads to the formation of black holes,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement announcing the winners of this year’s prize. “Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez discovered that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbits of stars at the centre of our galaxy. A supermassive black hole is the only currently known explanation.”
Roger Penrose, was born in 1931 in Colchester, England, and received his Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of Cambridge. He currently works as a professor at Oxford University.
Reinhard Genzel was born in 1952 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, and received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Bonn. He is now the director at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, and Professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Andrea Ghez was born 1965 in New York City and received her Ph.D. in 1992 from California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California. She currently is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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