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Through Physics, Massachusetts and Milky Way
Life and career
Genzel was born in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany, the son of Eva-Maria Genzel and Ludwig Genzel, a professor of solid state physics (1922–2003). He studied physics at the University of Freiburg and the University of Bonn, graduating in 1978 with a PhD in radioastronomy which he prepared at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. Subsequently he worked at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a Miller Fellow from 1980 until 1982, and also Associate and finally Full Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981. In 1986, he left Berkeley to become a director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. During that time he also lectured at LMU Munich, where he has been Honorary Professor since 1988. From 1999 to 2016, he also had a part-time joint appointment as Full Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Additional activities include sitting on the selection committee for the Shaw Prize in astronomy.
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Work
Reinhard Genzel studies infrared- and submillimetre astronomy. 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, around Sagittarius A*, and show that they were orbiting a very massive object, now known to be a black hole. 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 predicted by general relativity at relativistic velocities, finding additional confirmation of the theory.
Awards
- Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, 1973–1975
- Miller Research Fellowship, 1980–1982
- Otto Hahn Medal, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 1980
- Presidential Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1984
- Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, American Astronomical Society, 1986
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 1990
- De Vaucouleurs Medal, University of Texas, 2000
- Prix Jules Janssen, Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society), 2000
- Stern Gerlach Medal for experimental physics, Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, 2003
- Balzan Prize for Infrared Astronomy, 2003
- Albert Einstein Medal, 2007
- Shaw Prize, 2008
- "Galileo 2000" Prize, 2009
- Dr. h.c. Leiden University, 2010
- Karl Schwarzschild Medal, Deutsche Astronomische Gesellschaft, 2011
- Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy, 2012
- Tycho Brahe Prize, European Astronomical Society, 2012
- Pour le Mérite, 2013
- Dr. h.c. University of Paris, 2014
- Harvey Prize, Technion Institute, Israel, 2014
- Herschel Medal, Royal Astronomical Society, 2014
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020
- Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, 2021
- Dr. h.c. Grenoble Alpes University, 2023
- Rectorat's Medal University of Chile, 2025
- Bavarian Constitutional Order, 2025
Membership of scientific societies
- Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1985
- Foreign member of the Académie des Sciences (Institut de France), 1998
- Foreign member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, 2000
- Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 2002
- Senior member of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2003
- Member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain, 2010
- Foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, 2011
- Foreign member of the Royal Society of London, 2012
- Member of the Pontifical Academy, 2020