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The Hindu
The Hindu
Technology
The Hindu Net Desk

Watch: 2020 Physics Nobel for discoveries on black holes

This image released on April 10, 2019 by Event Horizon Telescope shows a black hole. Scientists revealed the first image ever made of a black hole after assembling data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world. Photo: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration/Maunakea Observatories (Source: AP)

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded with one half to Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their discoveries on black holes.

Black holes have long been considered as the Milky Way's darkest secret. A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. 

Scientists say the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. The largest black holes are called "supermassive." and have masses that are more than 1 million suns together.

Also read: Why are the findings of black holes by the Physics Nobel Prize winners important?

Briton Roger Penrose received half of this year’s prize “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity,” the Nobel Committee said.

German Reinhard Genzel and American Andrea Ghez received the second half of the prize “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”

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