Monday 18 / August / 2025
The Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to British-born Roger Penrose for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity, along with German Reinhard Genzel and US physicist Andrea Ghez for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy.
"This year's prize is about the darkest parts of the universe," the Nobel Committee said Tuesday when announcing the award in Stockholm.
Penrose is a professor at the University of Oxford, while Genzel works at Germany's prestigious Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Ghez is a researcher at the University of California.
Ghez has become only the fourth woman in the prize's centurylong history to win the prize for physics.
"I take very seriously the responsibility associated with being the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics," she said after winning, adding that she was "thrilled."
"I hope I can inspire other young women into the field," she added.
Black hole research
Penrose's research, published in 1965, was described as the "most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein" while Ghez and Genzel's work discovered the "most convincing evidence yet of a super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way," according to the committee.
It is common for the prize to go to multiple people, typically to those focusing on a single scientific achievement or connected achievements. Penrose won 50% of the award; Ghez and Genzel share the other half.
The winners of the Nobel Prize were decided on Tuesday morning by the committee. Traditionally the committee does not publicly share the list of nominees. The prize-giving was slightly delayed because the committee gets in touch with the winners on the phone before publicly announcing their name. For Ghez in California, the phone call came at around 2:30 a.m.
Prize purse will be split
Last year's prize went to Canadian-born cosmologist James Peebles for theoretical work about the early moments of the Big Bang and Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for discovering a planet outside of our solar system.
The award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kroner ($1.1 million). The prize is awarded by the Swedish Nobel Committee.
On Monday, the committee awarded the prize for physiology or medicine to US scientists Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice as well as British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the Hepatitis C virus.
The other prizes awarded by the committee are for chemistry, literature, peace and economics, most of which will be announced later this week. The peace prize will be handed over on Friday in Oslo.
The prizes have been awarded almost every year since 1901.
