The Nobel Prize in Physics has been jointly awarded to three scientists for their discoveries about one of the most exotic phenomena in the universe - the black hole.
British scientist, Sir 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.
A statement explains: “Roger Penrose used ingenious mathematical methods in his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein ’s general theory of relativity.
“Einstein did not himself believe that black holes really exist, these super-heavyweight monsters that capture everything that enters them. Nothing can escape, not even light.
“In January 1965, ten years after Einstein’s death, Roger Penrose proved that black holes really can form and described them in detail; at their heart, black holes hide a singularity in which all the known laws of nature cease.
“His groundbreaking article is still regarded as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein.”
The other half of the Nobel Prize was shared between Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.
David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said: “The discoveries of this year’s Laureates have broken new ground in the study of compact and supermassive objects.
“But these exotic objects still pose many questions that beg for answers and motivate future research.
“Not only questions about their inner structure, but also questions about how to test our theory of gravity under the extreme conditions in the immediate vicinity of a black hole.”
