# R3 | anthropic/claude-opus-5 | run 2

## Prompt

Who was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, and for what? Cite your sources.

## Response

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics went to three scientists for black hole research. One half was awarded to Roger Penrose "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity", and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy" [Nobel Prize Summary](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/summary/).

## The Laureates

| Laureate | Affiliation | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Roger Penrose | University of Oxford, UK | Used mathematical methods to prove black holes are a direct consequence of Einstein's general theory of relativity |
| Reinhard Genzel | Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, and UC Berkeley | Discovered that an invisible, extremely heavy object governs stellar orbits at the galactic centre |
| Andrea Ghez | UCLA, Professor of Astrophysics | Co-discovered the same supermassive compact object via precision stellar tracking |

## Context and Significance

Penrose's theoretical breakthrough came decades before the observational confirmation. He won half the prize for his 1965 paper, and notably, Einstein himself did not believe black holes really existed [Quanta Magazine](https://www.quantamagazine.org/physics-nobel-awarded-for-black-hole-breakthroughs-20201006/).

For the object at the Milky Way's centre — Sagittarius A* — a supermassive black hole is the only currently known explanation [Nobel Press Release](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/press-release/).

Two further details of note:

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize on October 6, 2020, and it marked the first time a Nobel Prize was awarded for theoretical results based on Einstein's theory of General Relativity, despite its formulation in 1915 [IAS News](https://www.ias.edu/news/2020/nobel-prize-physics).

Ghez became only the fourth woman to receive the physics prize, following Marie Curie (1903), Maria Goeppert Mayer (1963), and Donna Strickland (2018) [UCLA Newsroom](https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/andrea-ghez-wins-2020-nobel-prize-in-physics).

The prize amount was 10 million Swedish kronor, split one half to Penrose and the other half jointly to Genzel and Ghez.

Would you like a deeper explanation of Penrose's 1965 singularity theorem or the observational techniques Genzel and Ghez used?
