Reinhard Genzel

Massive Black Holes in Galaxies

Evidence has been accumulating for several decades that quasars, the most luminous objects in the Universe, are powered by accretion of matter onto massive black holes. I will discuss recent observations, employing adaptive optics imaging on large ground-based telescopes that prove the existence of such a massive black hole in the center of our Milky Way, beyond any reasonable doubt. These observations indicate that the Galactic Center black hole may be rotating rapidly and show that massive star formation has been happening recently in its immediate vicinity. I will also briefly discuss our present knowledge about the formation and evolution of these massive black holes in the early Universe.