2020 Physics Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and the Penrose pattern as a forerunner of generalized crystallography
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EDITORIAL
2020 Physics Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and the Penrose pattern as a forerunner of generalized crystallography Istvan Hargittai 1 & Balazs Hargittai 2 Accepted: 20 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Nobel recognition Three physicists shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2020. Roger Penrose (1931, Fig. 1) received half of the prize “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.” The other half was divided between Reinhard Genzel (1952) and Andrea Ghez (1965) “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy.” Penrose’s discovery was the result of mathematical research into the general theory of relativity, whereas Genzel and Ghez utilized the most up-to-date technological advances in astronomy to make their observations. Some of the formulations of the Penrose discovery read as if the black hole had predicted the general theory of relativity, and some others, as if the formation of black holes was a consequence of the theory. In any case, Penrose uncovered the relationship between the black holes and the general theory of relativity. The black holes are super heavy formations and they swallow everything; even light cannot escape from them. Albert Einstein did not consider the kind of relationship Penrose discovered and did not even believe in the existence of black holes. Penrose discussed the nature of the black holes within a decade following Einstein’s death. Penrose described the singularity occurring in the depth of black holes where the known laws of nature lose their validity. We don’t know that kind of laws may apply at that point. Penrose discussed the
Dedicated to Alan L. Mackay for his 95th birthday * Istvan Hargittai [email protected] * Balazs Hargittai [email protected] 1
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest 1111, Hungary
2
Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA 15940, USA
details of his discovery both in research papers and in bestselling semi-popular books [1–5]. Alfred Nobel initiated his prizes to award great discoverers, not just great scientists. The two do not always coincide although at the early stages of the prize most awardees were both great discoverers and great scientists. Nowadays, it does not happen so often that the awardees are not only great discoverers but also great scientists. Roger Penrose is both and this makes even a cursory acquaintance with his oeuvre and personality especially rewarding.
Background We recorded a long conversation with Roger Penrose twenty years ago, in 2000, at Oxford University, and we published it in 2005, in the fifth volume of our Candid Science book series [6]. In each of the six-volume Candid Science book series, there were at least 36 conversations of which at least 18 were with Nobel laureates [7]. In the fifth volume, there were 19 Nobel laureates when the book appeared in 2005, and there are 21 today. One of the two additions was Dan Shechtman (conversation in 19
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