Andrea Ghez
Galactic Center Group, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Focus
About Andrea
Andrea M. Ghez, distinguished professor of Physics & Astronomy and head of UCLA’s Galactic Center Group, is a world-leading expert in observational astrophysics. She earned her B.S. in Physics from MIT in 1987 and her Ph.D. from Caltech in 1992, and has been on the faculty at UCLA since 1994. She has used the Keck telescopes to demonstrate the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, with a mass 4 million times that of our sun. This is the best evidence yet that these exotic objects really do exist, and provides us with a wonderful opportunity to study the fundamental laws of physics in the extreme environment near a black hole, and learn what role this black hole has played in the formation and evolution of our galaxy.
Her work can be found in many public outlets including TED, NOVA’s Monster of the Milky Way, and Discovery’s Swallowed by a Black Hole.
For more information see here and here.
Honors
2020 - American Astronomical Society Fellow, Inaugural Class
2020 - Nobel Prize in Physics
2019 - American Physical Society Fellow
2019 - Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Oxford
2017 - Sven Berggren Prize, Royal Physiographic Society, Sweden
2016 - Bakerian Medal, The Royal Society of London
2012 - American Philosophical Society, elected
2012 - Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award
2012 - Crafoord Prize in Astronomy, Royal Swedish Acad. of Sciences
2008 - MacArthur Fellowship
2004 - American Academy of Arts & Sciences, elected
2004 - National Academy of Sciences, elected
2004 - Raymond & Beverly Sackler Prize, University of Tel Aviv
Education
Postdoc
Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arizona, 03/1994
Ph.D.
Physics, California Institute of Technology, 09/1992
Master's
Physics, California Institute of Technology, 06/1989
Bachelor's
Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 06/1987
