News - Stephen Hawking reconsiders Black hole theory
Peter Griffiths, Reuters - July 22nd, 2004
Cosmologist Stephen Hawking lost one of the most famous bets in scientific history Wednesday after he rejected the 1975 black hole theory that helped make his name. The best-selling author of "A Brief History of Time" conceded that American physicist John Preskill was right to doubt his theory and gave him a baseball book as a prize. "I am now ready to concede the bet," said Hawking, 62. "I offered him an encyclopedia of cricket, but John wouldn't be persuaded of (its) superiority."
Hawking, who has a crippling muscle disease and is confined to a wheelchair, accepted the bet in 1997 when Preskill refused to accept black holes permanently destroy everything they suck up. For over 200 years, scientists have puzzled over black holes, which form when stars burn all their fuel and collapse, creating a huge gravitational pull. Hawking now believes some material oozes out of them over billions of years through tiny irregularities in their surface.
He gave brief details of his U-turn last week and expanded on them at a conference in Dublin after making a last-minute request to speak. "I always hoped that when Stephen conceded, there would be a witness -- this really exceeds my expectations," said Preskill, pointing at the banks of TV cameras in the packed auditorium. He said he would miss the years of debate provided by the so-called "black hole information paradox," over whether material can escape. Others said they would wait for Hawking's new theory to be published before making up their minds. "This looks to me, on the face of it, to be a lovely argument," said Kip Thorne, a colleague of Preskill at the California Institute of Technology. "But I haven't seen all the details."
Hawking said his reworked theory ruled out his earlier belief that people could some day use black holes to travel to other universes. "I am sorry to disappoint science fiction fans," he said through his distinctive computerized voicebox. "But if you jump into a black hole, your mass energy will be returned to our universe but in a mangled form." [...]
Cosmologist Stephen Hawking lost one of the most famous bets in scientific history Wednesday after he rejected the 1975 black hole theory that helped make his name. The best-selling author of "A Brief History of Time" conceded that American physicist John Preskill was right to doubt his theory and gave him a baseball book as a prize. "I am now ready to concede the bet," said Hawking, 62. "I offered him an encyclopedia of cricket, but John wouldn't be persuaded of (its) superiority."
Hawking, who has a crippling muscle disease and is confined to a wheelchair, accepted the bet in 1997 when Preskill refused to accept black holes permanently destroy everything they suck up. For over 200 years, scientists have puzzled over black holes, which form when stars burn all their fuel and collapse, creating a huge gravitational pull. Hawking now believes some material oozes out of them over billions of years through tiny irregularities in their surface.
He gave brief details of his U-turn last week and expanded on them at a conference in Dublin after making a last-minute request to speak. "I always hoped that when Stephen conceded, there would be a witness -- this really exceeds my expectations," said Preskill, pointing at the banks of TV cameras in the packed auditorium. He said he would miss the years of debate provided by the so-called "black hole information paradox," over whether material can escape. Others said they would wait for Hawking's new theory to be published before making up their minds. "This looks to me, on the face of it, to be a lovely argument," said Kip Thorne, a colleague of Preskill at the California Institute of Technology. "But I haven't seen all the details."
Hawking said his reworked theory ruled out his earlier belief that people could some day use black holes to travel to other universes. "I am sorry to disappoint science fiction fans," he said through his distinctive computerized voicebox. "But if you jump into a black hole, your mass energy will be returned to our universe but in a mangled form." [...]
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