No. 111/2020

28 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 111/2020 CLOSE UP ON RESEARCH There is also more official support for radio astronomy than there used to be. “And that is essential if we are going to retain our leading position in this research,” Zensus emphasises. The network needs additional radio telescopes to improve the quality of future images and help to inter- pret them scientifically. Radio antennae on satellites in space could also contribute to this, too. But research into black holes is not just about distant heavenly bodies. It questions the whole basis of modern physics. Due to their extreme gravitational fields, the General Theory of Relativity has to prove itself under conditions that were never previously considered. So far, Einstein’s thought edifice has withstood the stress test to which the EHT researchers have subjected it. Currently, the consortium is working on capturing the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way. They already have the measurements and are busy evaluating them. Although it is 2,000 times nearer than the one in M87, it is no easier to catch the image. Zensus explains: “The relatively fast changes in the centre of the Milky Way cause disturbances and make it hard to take a photo. At the moment, we are trying to eliminate this effect.” Zensus takes a careful look at his watch: his next trip is about to start. He is flying to the award ceremony for the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics which has been awarded to the entire EHT team. Sometimes referred to as the “Physics Oscar”, it is presented at NASA’s Ames Center in California. And a few days later, he is off to the Falling Walls conference in Berlin where people want to hear more about the breakthrough with black holes. The wave of curiosity and fascination con- tinues unabated. RADIOASTRONOMER PROFESSOR DR ANTON ZENSUS , the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, was granted the Humboldt Research Award in 1994 and the Max Planck Research Award in 1999. The picture on the left shows him talk- ing to researchers in his research group at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. Anton Zensus read physics and astronomy in Cologne and Münster where he completed his doctorate in 1984. In 1985, he relocated to the United States as a postdoc at California Insti- tute of Technology in Pasadena, Cali­ fornia, moving to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, and Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1988. Anton Zensus became a scien- tific member of the Max Planck Society in 1996 and was appointed director of the Bonn institute where he heads the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) research department. IT QUESTIONS THE WHOLE BASIS OF MODERN PHYSICS.” “­