Team Behind World's First Black Hole Image Wins 'Oscar Of Science'
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published September 05, 2019 | 11:49 PM
The 347 scientists who collaborated to produce the world's first image of a black hole were honored Thursday with the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, winning $3 million dollars for what is known as the "Oscars of science."
Directed by Shep Doelman at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the team spent over a decade simulating an Earth-sized computational telescope that combined the signals received by eight radio telescopes working in pairs around the world with their sights trained on the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, 55 million light years away.
Through this technique, they were able achieve an unprecedented resolution and observe the black hole's silhouette for the first time in history, confirming theoretical predictions about these celestial objects.
"For many years, I would tell people that we were going to image a black hole, and they would say, 'Well, we'll believe it when we see it,' Doelman told AFP in an interview.
"But when you finally come with very strong evidence, when you make a breakthrough like this, then you have the satisfaction of really giving birth to a new field.
"We are now in an era of precision imaging of black holes, we can approach the event horizon and map spacetime for the first time," he added.
The event horizon of a black hole is the point at which its gravitational effects are strong that light cannot escape its pull.
Now in its eighth year, the Breakthrough Prize was launched by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to recognize and reward the world's top scientists.
Winners from the other categories, life sciences, and mathematics, also took home $3 million.
They will be recognized at a gala awards ceremony on November 3, at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
Recent Stories
05 mine workers from Shangla die in two incidents
Punjab to unveil comprehensive initiatives in upcoming budget: Minister
FESCO promotes 18 Junior Engineers/SDOs in scale-18
Three accused held over hawala/hundi
Immunization Week launches in ICT: Officials, citizens unite for public health
IESCO issues power suspension programme
Agri experts stress quality seed at farm level to overcome food insecurity
ISSI, ISAS conclude first MoU between think-tanks of Pakistan, Singapore
US stocks rise on tech outlook as yen rebounds
IsDB, Arab Coordination Group, SFD join Global Partnership to raise $500 million ..
07 day anti-polio drive launches in Khairpur
Dr Mumtaz calls for strengthening NDMA, PDMA to tackle climate changes issues
More Stories From World
-
IsDB, Arab Coordination Group, SFD join Global Partnership to raise $500 million for education initi ..
15 minutes ago -
China strongly condemns perpetrators of atrocity in Gaza
57 minutes ago -
Scotland's first minister Yousaf quits after a year
1 hour ago -
ADF presents aquaculture investment opportunities at Barcelona Seafood Expo
1 hour ago -
Madinah Governor receives Indonesian Ambassador
1 hour ago -
Dozens killed as dam bursts in flood-hit Kenya
2 hours ago
-
NATO chief says 'not too late' for Ukraine to win war
2 hours ago -
Bayern ready for 'extraordinary' Bellingham, says Tuchel
2 hours ago -
US, Egypt 'hopeful' of Gaza truce as envoys meet in Cairo
1 hour ago -
Pakistan looks forward to learning from China's experience in governance, development: Kasuri
2 hours ago -
Spain PM Sanchez walks back from resignation threat
2 hours ago -
EU says Apple iPad operating system to face stricter rules
3 hours ago