The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Roger Penrose for the discovery of a black hole and to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for discovering “a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy.”
It is common for several scientists who worked in related fields to share the award. Last year’s award went to Canadian cosmologist James Peebles for his theoretical work on the first moments after the Big Bang, and Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for discovering a planet outside our solar system.
The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and a prize money of SEK 10 million (over US $ 1.1 million), courtesy of a legacy left 124 years ago by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred. Nobel. The amount was recently increased to adjust for inflation.
BREAKING NEWS:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award 2020 #Nobel Prize in Physics with half for Roger Penrose and the other half jointly for Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. pic.twitter.com/MipWwFtMjz– The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2020
On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the physiology and medicine prize to Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the hepatitis C virus that devastates the liver.
The other awards are for outstanding work in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace, and economics.
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