3 scientists win Nobel Prize in Physics for black hole discoveries

Three scientists will share this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries about one of the most mysterious objects in our universe.

British scientist Roger Penrose was awarded one half of the prize for discovering how black holes back up Einstein's theory of relativity, the Nobel Committee announced Tuesday. German Reinhard Genzel and American Andrea Ghez meanwhile received the other half for finding a supermassive black hole was at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Penrose's work fed into Genzel and Ghez's, as he used math to prove black holes could actually exist based on the theory of relativity. He was a longtime collaborator with Stephen Hawking, with whom he worked to "merge Einstein's theory of relativity with quantum theory to suggest that space and time would begin with the Big Bang and end in black holes," CNN writes. Nobel prizes can't be awarded posthumously, but analyst David Pendlebury noted to CNN that Hawking's work was mentioned in both Penrose and Genzel and Ghez' work.

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Ghez is meanwhile the fourth woman to ever receive the Nobel prize in Physics, telling The Associated Press that "I hope I can inspire other young women into the field. It's a field that has so many pleasures. And if you're passionate about the science, there's so much that can be done."