A Laboratory Schools alumna has been awarded the Nobel Prize.

Andrea Ghez, a 1983 U-High graduate, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics Oct. 4 for her work studying black holes. Dr. Ghez split half of the prize with German physicist Reinhard Genzel and the other half was awarded to British physicist Roger Penrose. 

Ms. Ghez is the first Lab alum and fourth woman in the world to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. According to the Nobel Committee, her award was for the discovery of “a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”

Dr. Ghez has been an astrophysics professor at University of California, Los Angeles, since 1994.

For more information about Ms. Ghez, her work and her achievements, read this article from NPR or this article by the UCLA Newsroom.