麻豆影院

Astrophysicist who confirmed black hole at galaxy鈥檚 center to speak March 5 at CU 麻豆影院

Andrea Ghez, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics, will give the 53rd George Gamow Memorial Lecture March 5 at the 麻豆影院.

Ghez, Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA, shared half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel of the University of California, Berkeley.

The pair were recognized by the Nobel committee for their discovery of a 鈥渟upermassive鈥� black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Ghez, head of UCLA鈥檚 Galactic Center Group, solved the question, what exactly is 鈥淪agittarius A*,鈥� which was first detected as a mysterious radio signal in 1933.听

鈥淚 see being a scientist as really fundamentally being a puzzle-solver,鈥� Ghez in 2021. 鈥淧utting together the pieces, trying to find the evidence, trying to see the bigger picture.鈥�

She helped develop a new technology to correct the distorting effects of Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. Gathering data from the world鈥檚 largest telescope system, the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, she and her team continue to plumb the depths of the galactic center 26,000 light years distant.

While Albert Einstein鈥檚 epochal work on relativity remains the best description of how gravity works, Ghez says it can鈥檛 account for gravity inside a black hole. Through what she calls 鈥渆xtreme astrophysics,鈥� she seeks to go where the pioneering astrophysicist could not.

鈥淓instein鈥檚 right for now,鈥� she said. 鈥淗owever, his theory is showing vulnerability. 鈥� At some point we will need to move 鈥� to a more comprehensive theory of gravity.鈥�

A member of the National Academy of Sciences and author of a 2006 children鈥檚 book, 鈥淵ou Can Be a Woman Astronomer,鈥� Ghez is widely recognized as a role model for young women.

鈥淪eeing people who look like you, or are different from you, succeeding shows you that there鈥檚 an opportunity,鈥� she said.

Top image: An artist's concept illustrating a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of fthe Sun. ()

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