Andrea M. Ghez

Andrea M. Ghez
Ghez in April 2019
Born
Andrea Mia Ghez

(1965-06-16) June 16, 1965 (age 59)
Education
Known forDiscovery of a supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center
Adaptive optics
AwardsMacArthur Fellowship (2008)
Crafoord Prize (2012)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2020)
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Los Angeles
ThesisThe Multiplicity of T Tauri Stars in the Star Forming Regions Taurus-Auriga and Ophiuchus-Scorpius: A 2.2μm Speckle Imaging Survey (1993)
Doctoral advisorGerry Neugebauer
Websiteastro.ucla.edu/~ghez/

Andrea Mia Ghez (born June 16, 1965) is an American astrophysicist, Nobel laureate, and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine chair in Astrophysics, at the University of California, Los Angeles.[1] Her research focuses on the center of the Milky Way galaxy.[2]

In 2020, she became the fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, sharing one half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel (the other half being awarded to Roger Penrose).[1][3] The Nobel Prize was awarded to Ghez and Genzel for their discovery of a supermassive compact object, now generally recognized to be a black hole, in the Milky Way's Galactic Center.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b "Andrea Ghez". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  2. ^ Speed Weed, William (January 19, 2000). "20 Young Scientists to Watch". Discover Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  3. ^ "Facts on the Nobel Prize in Physics". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  4. ^ "Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  5. ^ Overbye, Dennis; Taylor, Derrick Bryson (October 6, 2020). "Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work on Black Holes – The prize was awarded half to Roger Penrose for showing how black holes could form and half to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for discovering a supermassive object at the Milky Way's center". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2020.