Nobel Prize in Physics 2020: Gravity’s Cosmic Crowning Glory – Black Holes

Ben Skuse kicks off our series on the 2020 Nobel Prize with an article on work of new physics Nobel Laureates Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez: 

News that scientists have detected gravitational ripples left behind from an ancient black hole collision or have discovered a humungous black hole feeding off the stars of a distant galaxy no longer inspires amazement from scientists or the general public. Quite apart from attention being drawn towards more pressing domestic events in 2020, the world has become accustomed to the idea of a universe littered with black holes, particularly now that the first direct visual evidence of a black hole has been shared across the world. But it hasn’t always been this way.