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 The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Germany. In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics split up into the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Ph ...

, a professor at LMU and an emeritus professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He was awarded the 2020

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

"for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the

centre of our galaxy The Galactic Center or Galactic Centre is the rotational center, the barycenter, of the Milky Way galaxy. Its central massive object is a supermassive black hole of about 4 million solar masses, which is called Sagittarius A*, a compact ra ...

", which he shared with

Andrea Ghez Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

and

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus f ...

. In a 2021 interview given to

Federal University of Pará The Federal University of Pará ( pt, Universidade Federal do Pará, UFPA) is one of the three public universities maintained by the Brazilian federal government in the state of Pará. It was ranked as the 15th largest Brazilian university i ...

in Brazil, Genzel recalls his journey as a physicist; the influence of his father, Ludwig Genzel; his experiences working with

Charles H. Townes Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated wi ...

; and more.

Life and career

Genzel was born in

Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'' ...

, Germany, the son of Eva-Maria Genzel and Ludwig Genzel, a professor of

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

(1922–2003). He studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...

and the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

, graduating in 1978 with a PhD in radioastronomy which he prepared at the

Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy The Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfRA) (German: ''Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie'') is located in Bonn, Germany. It is one of 80 institutes in the Max Planck Society (German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft). History By com ...

Curriculum-vitae
, website of the ''

Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Germany. In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics split up into the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Ph ...

'' Subsequently he worked at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. He was a Miller Fellow from 1980 until 1982, and also Associate and finally Full Professor in the Department of Physics at the

from 1981. In 1986, he left Berkeley to become a director at the

Garching Garching bei München (''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a town in Bavaria, Germany, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments on its campus. It became a city on 14 September 1990. Location The ...

and Scientific Member of the

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

. During that time he also lectured at

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

, where he has been Honorary Professor since 1988. From 1999 to 2016, he also had a part-time joint appointment as

Full Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at the

. Additional activities include sitting on the selection committee for the

Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is an annual award presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours "individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have recently achieved distinguished and signifi ...

in astronomy.

Work

Reinhard Genzel studies infrared- and

submillimetre astronomy Submillimetre astronomy or submillimeter astronomy (see spelling differences) is the branch of observational astronomy that is conducted at submillimetre wavelengths (i.e., terahertz radiation) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers pla ...

. 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 The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...

, around

Sagittarius A* Sagittarius A* ( ), abbreviated Sgr A* ( ), is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, ...

, and show that they were orbiting a very massive object, now known to be a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

. 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 In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in f ...

predicted by

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. ...

relativistic velocities In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws ...

, 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

, 26 July 2017

Awards

Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes The German Academic Scholarship Foundation (German: , or ''Studienstiftung'' for short) is Germany's largest and most prestigious scholarship foundation. According to its statutes, it supports "the university education of young people who, on ac ...

, 1973–1975 *

Miller Research Fellows The Miller Research Fellows program is the central program of the Adolph C. and Mary Sprague Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science on the University of California Berkeley campus. The program constitutes the support of Research Fellows - ...

hip, 1980–1982 *

Otto Hahn Medal The Otto Hahn Medal (german: Otto-Hahn-Medaille) is awarded by the Max Planck Society to young scientists and researchers in both the natural and social sciences. The award takes its name from the German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Otto Hah ...

, 1980 *

Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Presiden ...

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

, 1984 *

Newton Lacy Pierce Prize The Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society to a young (less than age 36) astronomer for outstanding achievement in observational astronomical research. The prize is named after Newton Lacy Pi ...

, American Astronomical Society, 1986 *

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

, 1990 * De Vaucouleurs Medal,

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, 2000 *

Prix Jules Janssen The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society. This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...

Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law ( Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpos ...

(French Astronomical Society), 2000 *

Stern Gerlach Medal The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. ...

for

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,547, as of 2019, making it the largest physics society in the world. It holds an annual conference () and multiple ...

, 2003 *

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the br ...

for Infrared Astronomy, 2003 *

Albert Einstein Medal The Albert Einstein Medal is an award presented by the Albert Einstein Society in Bern. First given in 1979, the award is presented to people for "scientific findings, works, or publications related to Albert Einstein" each year. Recipients ...

, 2007 *

, 2008 * "Galileo 2000" Prize, 2009 * Karl Schwarzschild Medal, Deutsche Astronomische Gesellschaft, 2011 *

Crafoord Prize The Crafoord Prize is an annual science prize established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, a Swedish industrialist, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. The Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Fo ...

Royal Swedish Academy The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

, 2012 *

Tycho Brahe Prize The Tycho Brahe Prize is awarded by the European Astronomical Society. Inaugurated in 2008, the prize is awarded annually in recognition of the pioneering development or exploitation of European astronomical instrumentation, or major discoveries ...

European Astronomical Society The European Astronomical Society (EAS) is a learned society, founded under the Swiss Civil Code in 1990, as an association to contribute and promote the advancement of astronomy in Europe, and to deal with astronomical matters at a European lev ...

, 2012 *

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Ea ...

, 2013 *

Harvey Prize Harvey Prize is an annual Israeli award for breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as contributions to peace in the Middle East granted by the Technion in Haifa. History The prize is named for industrialist and inventor Leo Harvey. T ...

, Technion Institute, Israel, 2014Harvey Prize 2014
*

Herschel Medal The Herschel Medal is awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) for "investigations of outstanding merit in observational astrophysics". It is awarded for a single piece of work so that younger scientists can be candidates for the award. It i ...

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

, 2014 *

, 2020

Membership of scientific societies

* Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1985 * Foreign member of the

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

(Institut de France), 1998 * Foreign member of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

, 2000 * Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 2002 * Senior member of the

Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

, 2003 * Foreign member of the

Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences The Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences (Spanish: ''Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales'') is an academic institution and learned society that was founded in Madrid in 1847. It is dedicated to the study and research of mathemat ...

, 2011 *

Foreign member of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

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
* {{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