Novikov gained his
PhD degree in astrophysics in 1965 and the Russian
D.Sc. degree in astrophysics in 1970. From 1974 to 1990 he was head of the Department of Relativistic Astrophysics at the
Russian Space Research Institute in
Moscow. Before 1991 he was head of the Department of Theoretical Astrophysics at the
Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow and has been a professor at
Moscow State University. Since 1994 he has been director of the Theoretical Astrophysics Center (TAC) of the
University of Copenhagen,
Denmark. He is currently also a professor of
astrophysics at the
Observatory of the University of Copenhagen, where he has been since 1991. Since 1998 he has been a Fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society. He is awarded the First John Archibald Wheeler Prize (2020), together with physicist
Kip Thorne (Caltech) and Oxford University professor
Roger Penrose. This award is presented for his contribution to the development of the
general theory of relativity and the physics of
black holes. The prize is awarded by the President of the
Italian Physical Society at the official awards ceremony in
Rome on May 22, 2020. ==See also==