MG 9 · 2000
Roger Penrose
Roger Penrose is a mathematical physicist known for singularity theorems, twistor theory, and geometric methods in relativity.
Born
1931, Colchester, United Kingdom
Affiliation at the Time of the Award
University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Prize Motivation
“For extending the mathematical and geometrical foundations of General Relativity.”
Meeting
MG IX, Rome, Italy
Work
The geometry of spacetime determines whether gravitational collapse forms singularities and black holes.
Penrose introduced global methods and proved a landmark singularity theorem for gravitational collapse.
His work made black holes unavoidable predictions of general relativity and reshaped the mathematical study of spacetime.