Prof. Andrzej Pigulski, IA UWr
Supermassive black hole in the centre of our Galaxy – 2020 Nobel prize in physics
Abstract: The Nobel prize in physics 2020 was awarded to three scientists, who share the prize for theirdiscoveries related to one of the most exotic objects in the Universe, black holes. Sir Roger Penrose showed that the general theory of relativity leads to the formation of black holes. Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez discovered that the centre of our Galaxy hosts a very massive (a few millions solar masses) object. As there is no alternative explanation, the object is believed to be a supermassive black hole. I will focus on presenting the work of Genzel's and Ghez' teams, showing also how large telescopes and the development of observational techniques helped in this discovery. Finally, I will mention several hot topics in astrophysics which are related to black holes.