3 scientists share Nobel physics prize for black hole research

Stockholm: Three scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for advancing our understanding of black holes, the all-consuming monsters that lurk in the darkest parts of the universe.

Briton Roger Penrose received half of this year's prize for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity," the Nobel Committee said.

German Reinhard Genzel and American Andrea Ghez received the second half of the prize for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy."

The prize celebrates one of the most exotic objects in the universe, black holes, which have become a staple of science fact and science fiction and where time seems to stand still, according to the committee.

Ghez is the fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, after Marie Curie in 1903, Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963, and Donna Strickland in 2018.

The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (more than 1.1 million), courtesy of a bequest left 124 years ago by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The amount was increased recently to adjust for inflation.