Nobel Prize winners in physics announced

The names of three winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics have become known. This year's laureates are scientists Roger Penrose, Reinhard Hansel and Andrea Gez, who specialize in space exploration.

Roger Penrose will receive half the prize for discovering that black hole formation is a reliable prediction of general relativity. Reinhard Gentzel and Andrea Guez are honored for the discovery of a supermassive compact object in the center of the Milky Way.

"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics: one half to Roger Penrose, and the other half to Reinhard Hansel and Andrea Gez", - the academy quotes Kommersant.

As noted by TASS, general relativity predicts that black holes - cosmic objects with huge gravitational attraction - do exist. However, even the creator of this theory - Albert Einstein - did not believe in it.

In 1965, the future Nobel laureate Roger Penrose proved that black holes really exist and described their structure in detail. The scientific achievements of the other two laureates - Andrea Gez and Reinhard Gentzel - are associated with a supermassive object in the center of our Galaxy - which astronomers call Sagittarius A * (Sagittarius, and with an asterisk). This object is a black hole, which is more than 4 million times heavier than the Sun, but it was not possible to see the object with optical telescopes, since it is surrounded by a cloud of hot gas. The scientific teams, led by Gez and Genzel, figured out how to see this Sagittarius A * through clouds of gas.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, there are restrictions on holding mass public events, which also affected the field of science. The ceremony of announcing the names of the 2020 Nobel Prize laureates in various fields of science is held online.

As for the presentation of medals and diplomas, their transfer will be organized through the Swedish embassies, or through previous Nobel laureates. In addition to the presentation of diplomas and medals, the winners will receive a cash prize of 10 million kroons. At the current exchange rate of 8.76 rubles per one kroon, payments will amount to about 87.6 million rubles.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the Canadian James Peebles, as well as the Swiss Didier Keloz and Michelle Mayor for their discoveries in the field of astronomy.

The Nobel Committee's website is now open to accepting applications for the 2021 prizes.