{"id":128419,"date":"2020-10-08T09:55:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T19:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=128419"},"modified":"2024-03-15T13:49:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T23:49:24","slug":"keck-astronomer-nobel-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/08\/keck-astronomer-nobel-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Keck astronomer awarded Nobel Prize for trailblazing black hole research"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Ghez
Andrea Ghez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A pioneering astronomer who proved the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy using a telescope on Maunakea won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Longtime W. M. Keck Observatory<\/a> astronomer Andrea Ghez was awarded for her revolutionary research that harnessed the power of the observatory\u2019s optical\/infrared telescopes and Maunakea\u2019s unparalleled view of the universe.<\/p>\n

\"woman
Ghez during a presentation in Honokaʻa<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“On behalf of University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> astronomers, I would like to add our congratulations to Dr. Ghez and to the W. M. Keck Observatory for this award and for the decades-long work on this groundbreaking research. This is yet another example of the outstanding contributions that astronomy in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> can make to our understanding of the universe,” said UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Institute for Astronomy<\/a> Director Robert McLaren<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ghez is an astrophysics professor at UCLA<\/abbr> and director of the university\u2019s Galactic Center Group<\/a>. She currently studies more than 3,000 stars that orbit the supermassive black hole in our galaxy. In January 2020, after conducting research at Keck, her team reported the discovery of a new class of bizarre objects—objects that look like gas and behave like stars—at the center of the Milky Way, not far from the black hole.<\/p>\n

“We couldn\u2019t be more elated for Andrea, who has devoted the entirety of her career to this research—over 25 years—all done at Keck Observatory. As only the fourth woman ever to win the Nobel Prize, this is a tremendous accomplishment for Andrea, and puts her in the company of such scientific luminaries as Madame Curie,” said Hilton Lewis, director of Keck Observatory.<\/p>\n

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Ghez observing in 1996.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrea Ghez won the coveted award for research that proved the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way using a telescope on Maunakea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[34,35,9,1626],"class_list":["post-128419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-astronomy","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-uh-manoa","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t