Three Laureates Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for Proving and Discovering Black Holes (Comprehensive)

Refer to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences website

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] This year's Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to individuals who proved the existence of black holes and demonstrated their actual presence. Following last year’s awards to astrophysics theorists and observers, this year’s laureates also unveiled the mysteries of the universe.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on the 6th (local time) jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to three individuals: Professor Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford, UK; Director Reinhard Genzel of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany; and Professor Andrea Ghez of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA.

Roger Penrose, who worked with Stephen Hawking

Professor Penrose is known for publishing the 'Penrose-Hawking singularity theorems' together with the late Dr. Stephen Hawking, who passed away in 2018.

The Nobel Committee, in announcing Penrose’s award, stated, "Professor Penrose has detailed, based on the theory of relativity, what actual black holes should look like and how they exist in the universe."

Professor Donghyun Cho of Korea University’s Department of Physics explained the Nobel Committee’s announcement, saying, "Although Einstein predicted black holes through general relativity, there was doubt about their actual existence. Penrose’s mathematical proof of black holes is significant."

In academia, since Penrose’s achievement was a joint one with Dr. Hawking, there is speculation that if Hawking were still alive, they would have shared the Nobel Prize. Bongwon Son, senior researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, responded, "If Hawking were alive, there is a possibility he would have been a co-recipient."

Director Genzel and Professor Ghez, who proved black holes

Director Genzel and Professor Ghez were highly praised for their contributions in proving the existence of black holes. They precisely observed stars orbiting black holes through telescopes and revealed that at the center of these stars’ orbits lies an object with a mass 4 million times that of the Sun (a black hole or supermassive dense object).

With Professor Ghez receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics this time, she became the fourth woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Professor Donghyun Cho explained, "Director Genzel and Professor Ghez can be seen as having actually 'observed' the existence of black holes in our galaxy."

Meanwhile, the Nobel Prize in Physics comes with a prize money of 9 million kronor (approximately 1.09 billion KRW). If awarded jointly, the amount is divided equally.

The Nobel Prize ceremony is held annually on December 10th in Stockholm, Sweden. However, this year it was replaced by an online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcements follow the sequence: the day before, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; on this day, the Nobel Prize in Physics; followed by Chemistry on the 7th, Literature on the 8th, Peace on the 9th, and Economic Sciences on the 12th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.