UCLA astrophysicist Andrea Ghez this month became the first woman to win the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for her work in astronomy.

She will be presented the prize, which includes a $600,000 award, in May by the king of Sweden.

The Crafoord Prize is one of the most internationally renowned prizes given in the field of sciences and seeks to promote basic research in various fields such as astronomy and mathematics, said Ferdinand Coroniti, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

Ghez is the first woman to win the award since its establishment in 1982, he added. Terence Tao, a professor of mathematics, also won the Crafoord Prize but was not available for comment.

Ghez, who came to UCLA in 1994, won the prize for her role in discovering that a supermassive black hole, which is estimated to be more than a million times larger than the sun, exists at the center of the galaxy. This discovery could potentially tell scientists there is a supermassive black hole at the center of every galaxy in our universe, Ghez said.

Black holes are remnants of dead stars, 10 times the mass of the sun, with a pull of gravity so strong that not even light can escape it.

Their existence tells astronomers there is something wrong with the current physical description of the universe, because current physics laws do not make sense of how they exist, Ghez said.

Regular black holes are scattered throughout the galaxy, but Ghez said there is only one supermassive black hole in each galaxy.

Prior to coming to UCLA, Ghez discovered that most stars are born in multiples, said Mark Morris, a professor and colleague of Ghez in the UCLA physics and astronomy department.

Ghez was able to discover this by using a technique that takes high-resolution images of outer space without distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere. These distortions prevent regular telescopes from being able to see these images clearly.

Morris hired Ghez in the early ’90s while he was the chair of the department. She was hired relatively early in her career, Morris said.

Although it is sometimes considered a gamble to hire students straight out of their post-doctorate studies, Morris said that Ghez’s high recommendations from the California Institute of Technology, where she received her graduate degree, eased his decision.

By taking advantage of her expertise in high-resolution imaging, Ghez was recently able to provide clear, high-resolution pictures of stars orbiting an unknown object, Morris said. That object is estimated to be the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Morris added.

To see these images, Ghez had to use the largest telescope in the world, found at the Keck Observatory, a University of California resource located near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Ghez and her research team visit the Keck Observatory six times a year and stay for a couple of days at a time to obtain the images for her work, she said.

Access to the Keck Observatory was one of the reasons she came to work at UCLA, Ghez said.

After 17 years at UCLA, Ghez has won numerous awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship. She was one of the youngest people to be elected to the National Academy of Science.

Ghez said she was honored to receive notice of the Crafoord Prize.

“I’m thrilled that the work we have been doing at UCLA has been recognized,” she said.