On October 6th 2020, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the Physics Nobel Prize for this year to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez:
- To Penrose for proving that black holes were a generic prediction of the theory of gravity due to Albert Einstein.
- To Genzel and Ghez for proving by extensive observations over a thirty-year period that the center of our galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole.
It is now understood that black holes are ubiquitous; indeed, they sometimes collide giving rise to spectacular releases of gravitational waves, whose recent observation on Earth has revolutionized astronomy.
Penrose has visited the University of Pittsburgh many times, giving many inspiring talks, variously in the Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy Departments. In 2011 he gave our annual Edmund R. Michalik Distinguised Lecture in the Mathematical Sciences: “Can We See Through the Big Bang, into Another World?” Although his affirmative answer to the question raised in the title is controversial, he put forward a cogent, coherent case (as he always does on any matter), which is very hard to directly refute!
We extend our heartiest congratulations to Roger Penrose as he accepts the award! His acceptance speech is on Tuesday 8th December at about 3.00 am Pittsburgh time. See: https://www.kva.se/sv/kalendarium/the-nobel-lectures-2020
His title is: ”Black Holes, Cosmology, and Space-Time Singularities"
Location and Address
Speaker Information
Roger Penrose