Reinhard Genzel

Reinhard Genzel http://royalsociety.org/people/reinhard-genzel/ Professor Reinhard Genzel ForMemRS (; born 24 March 1952) is a German astrophysicist, co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, a professor at LMU and an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy", which he shared with Andrea Ghez and Roger Penrose. In a 2021 interview given to Federal University of Pará in Brazil, Genzel recalls his journey as a physicist; the influence of his father, Ludwig Genzel; his experiences working with Charles H. Townes; and more.

Life and career

Genzel was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, the son of Eva-Maria Genzel and Ludwig Genzel, a professor of solid state physics (1922–2003). He studied physics at the University of Freiburg and the University of Bonn, graduating in 1978 with a PhD in radioastronomy which he prepared at the Max Planck Institute for Radio AstronomyCurriculum-vitae
, website of the ''Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik'' Subsequently he worked at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a Miller Fellow from 1980 until 1982, and also Associate and finally Full Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981. In 1986, he left Berkeley to become a director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. During that time he also lectured at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he has been Honorary Professor since 1988. From 1999 to 2016, he also had a part-time joint appointment as Full Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Additional activities include sitting on the selection committee for the Shaw Prize in astronomy.

Work

Reinhard Genzel studies infrared- and submillimetre astronomy. He and his group are
active in developing ground- and space-based instruments for astronomy. They used these to track the motions of stars at the centre of the Milky Way, around Sagittarius A*, and show that they were orbiting a very massive object, now known to be a black hole. Genzel is also active in studies of the formation and evolution of galaxies.

In July 2018, Reinhard Genzel ''et al.'' reported that star S2 orbiting Sgr A* had been recorded at 7,650 km/s or 2.55% the speed of light leading up to the pericentre approach in May 2018 at about 120 AU ≈ 1400 Schwarzschild radii from Sgr A*. This allowed them to test the redshift predicted by general relativity at relativistic velocities, finding additional confirmation of the theory.Star spotted speeding near black hole at centre of Milky Way – Chile's Very Large Telescope tracks S2 star as it reaches mind-boggling speeds by supermassive black hole
The Guardian, 26 July 2017

Awards

* Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, 1973–1975
* Miller Research Fellowship, 1980–1982
* Otto Hahn Medal, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 1980
* Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1984
* Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, American Astronomical Society, 1986
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 1990
* De Vaucouleurs Medal, University of Texas, 2000
* Prix Jules Janssen, Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society), 2000
* Stern Gerlach Medal for experimental physics, Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, 2003
* Balzan Prize for Infrared Astronomy, 2003
* Albert Einstein Medal, 2007
* Shaw Prize, 2008
* "Galileo 2000" Prize, 2009
* Karl Schwarzschild Medal, Deutsche Astronomische Gesellschaft, 2011
* Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy, 2012
* Tycho Brahe Prize, European Astronomical Society, 2012
* Pour le Mérite, 2013
* Harvey Prize, Technion Institute, Israel, 2014Harvey Prize 2014

* Herschel Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 2014
* Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020

Membership of scientific societies

* Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1985
* Foreign member of the Académie des Sciences (Institut de France), 1998
* Foreign member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, 2000
* Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 2002
* Senior member of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2003
* Foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, 2011
* Foreign member of the Royal Society of London, 2012
* Member of the Pontifical Academy, 2020

References

External links

Genzel's Homepage at MPE

Genzel's Profile at the MPG

The Balzan-Stiftung award

Black Holes and Galaxies 27 July 2009 – ANU podcast mp3 also available as video on youtube

Black Holes and Galaxies: Professor Reinhard Genzel – ANU TV on youtube
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Genzel, Reinhard
1952 births
Albert Einstein Medal recipients
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
German astrophysicists
German Nobel laureates
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Living people
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Nobel laureates in Physics
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Studienstiftung alumni
University of Bonn alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Max Planck Institute directors