The 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics has been awarded to the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration team. On April 10, 2019, the EHT Collaboration announced that they had captured the first image of a black hole. Among the total of 347 awardees, there are 11 researchers who belong to NAOJ, including Mareki Honma, a representative of EHT Japan and Director of Mizusawa VLBI Observatory.

Since starting in 2012, this award has honored important progress in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics. Several Japanese researchers have received this award in previous years, including Takaaki Kajita, Director of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research of the University of Tokyo. Furthermore, two NAOJ researchers who contributed to the direct detection of gravitational waves also received a special award in 2016.

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