AIP congratulates Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez on being named the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in physics. Penrose receives one-half of the prize "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity." Genzel and Ghez share one-half "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."
AIP offers a wide variety of resources for the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics. This page will be updated throughout the day with information and resources about the 2020 Prize and the newly named laureates. Click on the links below to view resources from AIP, its Member Societies, and AIP Publications.
Physics Nobel Prize Resources from AIP
Statement from Michael Moloney, CEO of AIP
“I am struck today at how we are celebrating not only magnificent discoveries about the fundamental nature of the universe but also the cutting-edge application of the scientific method to use the motions of stars to identify large unseen objects, as predicted by prior theoretical work.
“Roger Penrose took an established theoretical framework developed by Albert Einstein and showed that black holes are a direct consequence of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Then, Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel used some of the world’s newest and largest telescopes, coupled with recently developed observing tools, to stretch the technical limitations of astronomical observations and focus on the motion of stars at the center of our galaxy to show that a massive black hole lurks there, otherwise unseen. This celebration of the scientific method is all the more important when many in society appear today to doubt its application or utility.
“I am particularly delighted to recognize Andrea's being only the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics. When Donna Strickland was recognized in 2018, I said that her being the first woman in 55 years to win was ‘way too long.’ This statement remains true today. We have a long way to go yet to achieve gender equity in physics and a longer path yet to achieve true inclusivity and belonging in our field.”
Black holes -- the darkest secrets of the universe -- have been challenging physicists for decades. The existence of a celestial object with so much gravity that even light cannot escape had been speculated since the 18th century, but when Albert Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity in 1915, the mathematics seemed too complex to solve and describe something real.
The mathematical understanding of black holes and the detection of one at the center of our own galaxy are at the core of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics.
Where physics ends
In the 1960s, Roger Penrose developed the mathematical tools that proved that in a universe that operates under the rules of general relativity, black holes are an obvious byproduct.
His work predicts that when a dying star implodes beyond a point of no return, its gravitational field will irresistibly create what is known as a gravitational singularity in space-time where the known laws of physics cease to exist. These predictions are a direct result of Einstein’s general relativity and together point to one culprit -- black holes.
Seeing the invisible
But if these objects exist, how can they be found? How can scientists see something that is, by definition, invisible?
One way is to look at the motions of stars. Just as the planets in our solar system orbit our sun, luminous objects, like stars, would be expected to orbit a nearby black hole. By following these motions, the existence of a black hole and its properties can be inferred.
Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez did exactly that. Using large telescopes in observatories based in Hawaii and Chile and the latest technologies for observing faint objects, they noticed more than two dozen stars were orbiting something they couldn’t see at the center of our galaxy, nearly 26,000 light-years away. The object, Sagittarius A*, is compact and more than 4,000,000 times the mass of our sun. The only explanation is a supermassive black hole.
The discoveries of Penrose, Genzel, and Ghez just scratch the horizon of these celestial ghosts, and more surprises are likely in store.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives resources on Penrose:
Oral History Interview: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/34322 (Jan. 24, 1989)
Penrose in the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Projective geometry: origin of quantum equations [sound recording], 1972 October 30:
Each tape contains a recording of Dirac speaking on October 30, 1972 at Boston University. This recording includes the personal announcement by Dirac of the secret manner in which he created quantum mechanics. Roger Penrose offers concluding remarks at the end of the recording.
Gravity Research Foundation essays and abstracts, 1949-2019:
This collection comprises a complete set of essays submitted to the Gravity Research Foundation's annual essay contest on gravitation, its theory, applications or effects.
Physics Nobel Prize Resources from AIP Publishing
Statement from Alix Vance, CEO of AIP Publishing
“It is exciting to see the Nobel committee award this year’s Nobel Prize for physics to a collaboration between theory and experiment. Roger Penrose’s work to use Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity to predict the existence of black holes in 1965 lead to the observation by Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel using some of the world’s newest and largest telescopes in the 1990s.”
“I am particularly delighted to recognize Andrea's being only the fourth woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics and the second woman to win in the last two years. Though we have a long way to go to achieve gender equality in physics, this represents an important step and indication that we can close the gap.”
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Below you will find links to relevant works from AIP Publishing, freely available to read for a limited time.
ARTICLES BY ROGER PENROSE
The basic ideas of conformal cyclic cosmology
Roger Penrose
AIP Conference Proceedings 1446, 233 (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4727997
The Nature of Space and Time
Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose and John Preskill
Physics Today 49, 60 (1996)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2807691
The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Roger Penrose and Rolf Landauer
Physics Today 43, 73 (1990)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2810599
Spinors and Space‐Time, Volume I: Two‐Spinor Calculus and Relativistic Fields
Roger Penrose, Wolfgang Rindler and Joshua N. Goldberg
Physics Today 39, 72 (1986)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2814899
Spinors and Space‐Time, Volume 2: Spinor and Twistor Methods in Space‐Time Geometry
Roger Penrose, Wolfgang Rindler and Joshua N. Goldberg
Physics Today 39, 79 (1986)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2815249
The Kähler structure of asymptotic twistor space
M. Ko, E. T. Newman and R. Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 18, 58 (1977)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.523151
A space‐time calculus based on pairs of null directions
R. Geroch, A. Held and R. Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 14, 874 (1973)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1666410
Solutions of the Zero‐Rest‐Mass Equations
Roger Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 10, 38 (1969)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1664756
Conserved Quantities in the Einstein‐Maxwell Theory
Albert R. Exton, Ezra T. Newman and Roger Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 10, 1566 (1969)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1665006
Note on the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs Group
E. T. Newman and R. Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 7, 863 (1966)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1931221
Twistor Algebra
R. Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 8, 345 (1967)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1705200
An Approach to Gravitational Radiation by a Method of Spin Coefficients
Ezra Newman and Roger Penrose
Journal of Mathematical Physics 3, 566 (1962)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1724257
ARTICLES BY REINHARD GENZEL
Charles Hard Townes
Reinhard Genzel and Raymond Chiao
Physics Today 68, 64 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2827
The Galactic Center large program
X. Haubois, R. Genzel, G. Perrin, S. Gillessen, T. Paumard, K. Dodds‐Eden, Y. Clénet and D. Rouan
AIP Conference Proceedings 1053, 91 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3009530
86 GHz aperture synthesis observations of the Galactic center
M. C. H. Wright, R. Genzel, R. Güsten and D. T. Jaffe
AIP Conference Proceedings 155, 133 (1987)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36411
Hat creek aperture synthesis observations of the circum‐nuclear ring in the Galactic Center Galactic Center
R. Güsten, R. Genzel, M. C. H. Wright, D. T. Jaffe, J. Stutzki and A. Harris
AIP Conference Proceedings 155, 103 (1987)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36415
The distance to the center of the galaxy
J. M. Moran, M. J. Reid, M. H. Schneps, C. R. Gwinn, R. Genzel, D. Downes and B. Rönnäng
AIP Conference Proceedings 155, 166 (1987)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36420
Excitation gradient of the molecular gas in the Sgr A circum‐nuclear ring
J. B. Lugten, G. J. Stacey, A. I. Harris, R. Genzel and C. H. Townes
AIP Conference Proceedings 155, 118 (1987)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36431
Mapping of C+ far‐infrared emission in the inner galaxy
J. B. Lugten, R. Genzel, M. K. Crawford and C. H. Townes
AIP Conference Proceedings 155, 123 (1987)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.36432
OI and OIII in Sgr A: neutral and ionized gas at the Galactic center
R. Genzel, D. Watson, C. Townes, D. Lester, H. Dinerstein, M. Werner and J. Storey
AIP Conference Proceedings 83, 72 (1982)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.33504
ARTICLE BY ANDREA GHEZ
High precision dynamical masses for brown dwarf binaries
Q.M. Konopacky, A.M. Ghez, T.S. Barman, I.S. Mclean, G. Duchene
AIP Conference Proceedings 1094, 112 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3099079
Physics Nobel Prize Resources from AIP Member Societies
Below you will find links to relevant works from AIP Member Societies, freely available to read for a limited time.
From the American Association of Physics Teachers
The Nature of Space and Time
Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose and Curt Cutler
American Journal of Physics 65, 676 (1997)
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.18628
The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Roger Penrose and N. David Mermin
American Journal of Physics 58, 1214 (1990)
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.16207
Energy Conservation as the Basis of Relativistic Mechanics
R. Penrose and W. Rindler
American Journal of Physics 33, 55 (1965)
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1971232
Energy Conservation as the Basis of Relativistic Mechanics. II
J. Ehlers, W. Rindler and R. Penrose
American Journal of Physics 33, 995 (1965)
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1971205
From the American Astronomical Society
AAS Congratulates Recipients of Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 for Research on Black Holes
From the American Physical Society
2020 Nobel Prize in Physics Announced
Nobel Prize in Physics Recognizes Black Hole Discoveries
From The Optical Society
Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez Awarded 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
Infrared Imaging, Adaptive Optics Spurred Nobel-Worthy Discovery
Chemistry Nobel Prize Resources
AIP and AIP Publishing congratulate Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna on being named the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing."
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Below you will find links to relevant works from AIP Publishing, freely available to read for a limited time.
Articles Related to CRISPR/Cas9
Site-directed targeting of transcriptional activation-associated proteins to repressed chromatin restores CRISPR activity
René Daer, Fatima Hamna, Cassandra M. Barrett and Karmella A. Haynes
APL Bioengineering 4, 016102 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127302
Identification of on-target mutagenesis during correction of a beta-thalassemia splice mutation in iPS cells with optimised CRISPR/Cas9-double nickase reveals potential safety concerns
Suad Alateeq, Dmitry Ovchinnikov, Timothy Tracey, Deanne Whitworth, Abdullah Al-Rubaish, Amein Al-Ali and Ernst Wolvetang
APL Bioengineering 2, 046103 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5048625
Perspective: The promise of multi-cellular engineered living systems
Roger D. Kamm, Rashid Bashir, Natasha Arora, Roy D. Dar, Martha U. Gillette, Linda G. Griffith, Melissa L. Kemp, Kathy Kinlaw, Michael Levin, Adam C. Martin, Todd C. McDevitt, Robert M. Nerem, Mark J. Powers, Taher A. Saif, James Sharpe, Shuichi Takayama, Shoji Takeuchi, Ron Weiss, Kaiming Ye, Hannah G. Yevick and Muhammad H. Zaman
APL Bioengineering 2, 040901 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5038337
Efforts to improve the efficiency and specificity of CRISPR-Cas9 techniques
Yuanyuan Wang
AIP Conference Proceedings 2079, 020015 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5092393
Development of CRISPR/Cas9 plasmid for multiple sites genome editing in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)
Victor Aprilyanto, Chris Darmawan, Condro Utomo and Tony Liwang
AIP Conference Proceedings 2099, 020002 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5098407
Development of an agrobacterium-delivered CRISPR/Cas9 for Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume genome editing system
Sri Nopitasari, Yuli Setiawati, Muhammad Dylan Lawrie, Aziz Purwantoro, Jaka Widada, Aries Bagus Sasongko, Yasushi Yoshioka, Shogo Matsumoto, Kana Ninomiya, Yukii Asano and Endang Semiarti
IP Conference Proceedings 2260, 060014 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0015868
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation facillitates the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system in Dendrobium macrophyllum A. Rich orchid
Yuli Setiawati, Sri Nopitasari, Muhammad Dylan Lawrie, Aziz Purwantoro, Jaka Widada, Aries Bagus Sasongko, Kana Ninomiya, Yuuki Asano, Shogo Matsumoto, Yasushi Yoshioka and Endang Semiarti
AIP Conference Proceedings 2260, 060016 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0016200
Production of transgenic swine by sperm stem cell transplantation and gene editing technology
Tianzi Zhang
AIP Conference Proceedings 2058, 020011 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5085524
Genetic and epigenetic regulatory mechanism of rice panicle development
Chongwei Tu, Tiantian Li and Xiaoyun Liu
AIP Conference Proceedings 2079, 020001 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5092379
The invisible dance of CRISPR-Cas9
Giulia Palermo, Clarisse G. Ricci and J. Andrew McCammon
Physics Today 72, 30 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4182
Cats and llamas could offer a path to coronavirus therapies
David Kramer
Physics Today 73, 22 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4565
Structural and dynamic insights into the role of conformational switching in the nuclease activity of the Xanthomonas albilineans Cas2 in CRISPR-mediated adaptive immunity
Donghyun Ka, Suji Hong, Ugeene Jeong, Migyeong Jeong, Nayoung Suh, Jeong-Yong Suh and Euiyoung Bae
Structural Dynamics 4, 054701 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984052
Articles with Methods Related to CRISPR
A fast and efficient size separation method for haploid embryonic stem cells
Remo Freimann and Anton Wutz
Biomicrofluidics 11, 054117 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5006326
Automated electrotransformation of Escherichia coli on a digital microfluidic platform using bioactivated magnetic beads
J. A. Moore, M. Nemat-Gorgani, A. C. Madison, M. A. Sandahl, S. Punnamaraju, A. E. Eckhardt, M. G. Pollack, F. Vigneault, G. M. Church, R. B. Fair, M. A. Horowitz and P. B. Griffin
Biomicrofluidics 11, 014110 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4975391
In vitro models of molecular and nano-particle transport across the blood-brain barrier
Cynthia Hajal, Marco Campisi, Clara Mattu, Valeria Chiono and Roger D. Kamm
Biomicrofluidics 12, 042213 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5027118
Articles with CRISPR mentions
Mapping regulators of cell fate determination: Approaches and challenges
Aditya Kumar and Prashant Mali
APL Bioengineering 4, 031501 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0004611
Modeling cardiac complexity: Advancements in myocardial models and analytical techniques for physiological investigation and therapeutic development in vitro
Neal I. Callaghan, Sina Hadipour-Lakmehsari, Shin-Haw Lee, Anthony O. Gramolini and Craig A. Simmons
APL Bioengineering 3, 011501 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5055873
Endothelial mechanobiology
Ming He, Marcy Martin, Traci Marin, Zhen Chen and Brendan Gongol
APL Bioengineering 4, 010904 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5129563
Perspective: The role of mechanobiology in the etiology of brain metastasis
Kandice Tanner
APL Bioengineering 2, 031801 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5024394
Disease-directed engineering for physiology-driven treatment interventions in neurological disorders
Thomas Wood and Elizabeth Nance
APL Bioengineering 3, 040901 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117299
Quantitative assessment of chemotropism in pollen tubes using microslit channel filters
Naoki Yanagisawa and Tetsuya Higashiyama
Biomicrofluidics 12, 024113 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5023718
Passive micropumping in microfluidics for point-of-care testing
Linfeng Xu, Anyang Wang, Xiangpeng Li and Kwang W. Oh
Biomicrofluidics 14, 031503 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0002169
New books & media
Alex Lopatka and Cynthia Cummings
Physics Today 73, 56 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4393
The emergent physics of animal locomotion
Simon Sponberg
Physics Today 70, 34 (2017)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3691
Does new physics lurk inside living matter?
Paul Davies
Physics Today 73, 34 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4546
Benchmarking the communication fidelity of biomolecular signaling cascades featuring pseudo-one-dimensional transport
Pratip Rana, Kevin R. Pilkiewicz, Michael L. Mayo and Preetam Ghosh
AIP Advances 8, 055220 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.502750