果冻影院

Sir Roger, an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, was awarded the prize, the committee said, for his discovery that 鈥渂lack hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity鈥�. The other half of the prize went to Professors Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez 鈥渇or the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy鈥�.

Sir Roger, born in 1931, graduated with a first-class Mathematics degree at 果冻影院 in 1952 before studying for his PhD at St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. After a series of academic positions in the UK and the US, in 1973 he was appointed Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, becoming Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics 25 years later, in 1998. He was made an Honorary Fellow of 果冻影院 in 1975. He is 果冻影院's 30th Nobel laureate.

In January 1965, ten years after Albert Einstein鈥檚 death, Sir Roger听proved that black holes really could form and described them in detail 鈥� as singularities in which all the known laws of nature cease. (Einstein did not believe black holes really existed.) His groundbreaking article, according to the Nobel Committee for Physics, is still regarded as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein.

He is also well known for a number of popular physics books, including Emperor's New Mind: Concerning computers, minds, and the laws of physics and The Nature of Space and Time, a record of a debate between Penrose and Stephen Hawking.

The new Nobel Laureate gave a talk at 果冻影院 last year. Professor Jonathan Oppenheim (果冻影院 Physics & Astronomy) said: "Roger's talk was an inspiration to students here, many of whom became interested in black holes by reading his popular physics books. He has always been very generous with his time, and we had a lot of fun arguing about his ideas on gravity and the role it might play in understanding some of the mysteries of quantum theory."

Professor Sougato Bose (果冻影院 Physics & Astronomy), who organised the talk, said: 鈥淩oger is a highly inspiring personality. He was very happy to visit 果冻影院 for a (massively attended) talk in 2019, and noted fondly his time as a student at 果冻影院. Besides his classic contributions in gravitational physics, he also has intriguing ideas on gravity causing the collapse of the wavefunction in quantum mechanics, which are now ripe for testing."

Professor Hiranya Peiris (果冻影院 Physics & Astronomy) said: "Professor Penrose鈥檚 foundational theoretical insights into black holes inspired extensive observational programmes to study black holes in nature -听in particular, Professors Genzel and Ghez share the prize for exquisite measurements of the frenetic motions of stars at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, revealing the properties of the invisible object at its heart.

"Professor Penrose鈥檚 mathematical breakthroughs coupled with the tremendous technological innovations required to make these observations has given us the most convincing evidence yet of a听supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy."

David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said: 鈥淭he discoveries of this year鈥檚 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.鈥�

Links

• 果冻影院 Mathematics
• 果冻影院 Physics & Astronomy
• 果冻影院 Mathematical & Physical Sciences
• 果冻影院 30 Nobel Prize winners

Image

• Professor Roger Penrose at the 2011 Festival della Scienza, held in Genoa, Italy. Source: Wikimedia.