VOA慢速英语--三位科学家因黑洞研究而获得诺贝尔物理学奖

Three Scientists Win Nobel Physics Prize for Black Hole Research

Three scientists have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics for their discoveries related to massive objects called black holes.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science said Tuesday it will give half of the $1.1 million prize to Roger Penrose of Britain's University of Oxford¹. It is recognizing his use of mathematics to prove that black holes are a direct result of "Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity."

Germany's Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez of the United States will share the other half of the physics prize. Genzel works at both the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the University of California, Berkeley. Ghez is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy with the University of California, Los Angeles.

The academy is recognizing the two scientists "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy²." That object was a large black hole.

What are black holes?

The physics prize celebrates what the Nobel Committee called "one of the most exotic objects in the universe."

Black holes might exist at the center of every galaxy. Galaxies³ are huge systems that contain billions of stars. Smaller black holes can be found around the universe. Nothing, not even light, can escape their gravity. Time comes to a halt as it gets closer.

"Black holes, because they are so hard to understand, is what makes them so appealing," Ghez told The Associated Press. "I really think of science as a big, giant puzzle."

"You get this mixing of space and time," she said, adding that is what makes black holes so hard to understand.

Penrose proved with math that the formation of black holes was possible. His work was based heavily on Einstein's general theory of relativity.

"Einstein did not himself believe that black holes really exist, these super-heavyweight monsters that capture everything that enters them," the Nobel Committee said. "Nothing can escape, not even light."

British astronomer⁴ Martin Rees noted⁵ that Penrose's work fueled a "renaissance⁶" in the study of relativity in the 1960s. He added that Penrose, together with a young Stephen Hawking⁷, helped support evidence for the Big Bang and black holes.

"Penrose and Hawking are the two individuals who have done more than anyone else since Einstein to deepen our knowledge of gravity," Rees said.

Nobel prizes are only awarded to the living. Hawking died in 2018.

Finding ‘an extremely heavy, invisible object'

In the 1990s, Genzel and Ghez were each leading a group of astronomers⁸. Both groups were interested in the center of our Milky⁹ Way galaxy. They both found that there was "an extremely heavy, invisible object" that pulls other stars, causing them to move around at high speeds, the committee said.

It was a supermassive black hole 4 million times the mass of our sun.

The first picture Ghez got of the object was in 1995. The image came from telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory¹⁰, which had just gone online. A year later, another picture appeared to show that the stars near the center of the Milky Way were moving around something. A third picture led Ghez and Genzel to think they had discovered something.

Now scientists know that all galaxies have supermassive black holes.

"Today we accept these objects are critical to the building blocks of the universe," Ghez said.

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

Words in This Story

compact – adj. smaller than other things of the same kind

exotic – adj. very different, strange or unusual

puzzle – n. something that is difficult to understand; a game with many pieces that have to be put together to form a picture

monster – n. a powerful and large thing that cannot be controlled

renaissance – n. a period of time when there is new interest in something that has not been popular for a long time

big bang – n. a huge explosion that might have happened when the universe began

invisible – adj. not possible to see, hidden from sight

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

3 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

4 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

7 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

8 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

10 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。