Nobel Laureate Discusses Black Hole Research in Public Lecture

Andrea Ghez shares discoveries about the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Mar. 26, 2026 at 10:57am

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Andrea Ghez, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and astronomer from UCLA, will deliver a public lecture at Washington University in St. Louis on March 26th as part of the McDonnell Distinguished Lecture Series. Ghez's research has focused on the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which she was able to indirectly detect by tracking the motions of nearby stars.

Why it matters

Ghez's groundbreaking work has provided crucial evidence for the existence of black holes, which are some of the most mysterious and fascinating objects in the universe. Her discoveries not only advance our scientific understanding of black holes and galactic evolution, but also capture the public's imagination about the nature of our place in the cosmos.

The details

Over decades of research, Ghez and her team overcame significant technical challenges to track the movements of stars near the center of the Milky Way. By mapping these stellar motions, they were able to infer the presence of a supermassive, invisible object - now confirmed to be a black hole four million times the mass of our Sun. Ghez's work has been pivotal in establishing the existence of black holes, which were long theorized but difficult to directly observe.

  • Ghez will deliver the public lecture on March 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM.
  • Ghez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020 for her black hole research.

The players

Andrea Ghez

A Nobel Laureate and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Ghez is a pioneering researcher who has made groundbreaking discoveries about the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Washington University in St. Louis

The university hosting Ghez's public lecture as part of the McDonnell Distinguished Lecture Series, providing an opportunity for the broader St. Louis community to engage with Ghez's work.

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What they’re saying

“The universe offers a much more extreme laboratory than you can find anywhere on Earth.”

— Andrea Ghez

“It speaks to our deep humanity - the fact that we are a small, small speck in a very big universe. I think that's one of the fundamental appeals of astronomy.”

— Andrea Ghez

What’s next

Ghez's public lecture at Washington University in St. Louis on March 26, 2026 is open to the entire WashU and St. Louis community.

The takeaway

Andrea Ghez's pioneering research on the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy has not only advanced our scientific understanding of these mysterious cosmic objects, but also captured the public's imagination about our place in the vast universe. Her upcoming public lecture provides an exciting opportunity for the broader community to engage with her groundbreaking work.