Reinhard Genzel, professor at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave this lecture in October 2016. Genzel presents the evidence gathered over decades demonstrating the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of many galaxies. In particular, he examines the case of the black hole located at the center of the Milky Way, whose presence has been conclusively confirmed thanks to observations conducted over the past twenty years using advanced techniques such as adaptive optics and spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes.
Genzel and his team have studied this black hole in detail, reconstructing the orbits of the stars surrounding it to better understand its influence on galactic evolution.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the C
Reinhard Genzel, professor at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, gave this lecture in October 2016. Genzel presents the evidence gathered over decades demonstrating the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of many galaxies. In particular, he examines the case of the black hole located at the center of the Milky Way, whose presence has been conclusively confirmed thanks to observations conducted over the past twenty years using advanced techniques such as adaptive optics and spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes.
Genzel and his team have studied this black hole in detail, reconstructing the orbits of the stars surrounding it to better understand its influence on galactic evolution.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics. The fifth edition explores issues such as cosmic rays and anti-matter, the evolution of galaxies and the role played by black holes, the exploration of the Solar System, and the detection of gravitational waves.
