The Nobel Prize 2020 in the Physics category was awarded to Roger Penrose and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez.
Roger Penrose invented ingenious mathematical methods to explore Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. He showed that the theory leads to the formation of black holes, those monsters in time and space that capture everything that enters them.
Genzel and Ghez discovered that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbits of stars at the centre of our galaxy. A supermassive black hole is the only currently known explanation.
A panel at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the names of the winners some time after 3:30 pm (IST).
This category in the past has honoured discoveries about the tiniest of particles and the vast mysteries of outer space.
Some notable names who have been awarded this Nobel include Marie Curie, who received the honour alongside her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel in 1903 and became the first woman ever to win a Nobel.
Following her footsteps, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was the second woman recipient, was awarded the prize for her work on the nuclear shell structure of atoms in 1963 at age 57 and had done most of her research without being paid.
Notably, Albert Einstein received the prize in 1921 for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.
The Nobel for Physics in 2019, was jointly awarded to Canadian-born cosmologist James Peebles for theoretical work about the early moments after the Big Bang, and Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for discovering a planet outside our solar system.
Meanwhile, the prize in Medicine or Physiology category this year was announced yesterday and jointly received by three scientists, namely - Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton for the discovery of 'Hepatitis C virus'.
The trio's discovery was termed monumental as it helped explain a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn't be explained by the hepatitis A and B viruses.
The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (more than $1.1 million), courtesy of a bequest left 124 years ago by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
The other prizes are chemists, literature, peace and economics.
(With AP inputs)