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Hawking Gracefully, Formally Loses Black Hole Bet

Posted by timothy on from the fails-to-give-wheelchair-ride dept.

Liora writes "Today at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin, Cambridge University professor Stephen Hawking said in his talk titled The Information Paradox for Black Holes that he was wrong about the formation of an event horizon in a black hole, and that matter is not destroyed in a way defying subatomic theory, as he had previously believed. According to the talk's short, "the way the information gets out seems to be that a true event horizon never forms, just an apparent horizon." A New York Times story and a Wired story are available, both apparently based on Reuters information." (This is the formal announcement promised last week.)

7 of 485 comments (clear)

  1. how many....didn't he already....what the..... by d474 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've been hearing about this for like 4 days now... Is Slashdot turning into a News Black Hole?

    --
    Authority questions you. Return the favor.
    1. Re:how many....didn't he already....what the..... by Epistax · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Turning into" implies that it wasn't previously.

  2. No parallel universes? Bastard! by straponego · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that was the best thing I had going for me. It's what got me through the day. What do I have to look forward to now? Nothing, that's what!

  3. Re:Yikes by photonrider · · Score: 5, Funny

    dang! babelfish doesn't have a "genius to english" translation.

  4. Well... Duh by SkaterGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well... Obviously he's going to loose gracefully. Its not like he can get up and start yelling at the other guy. His chair probably doesn't even have an "Angry" voice

  5. Obligatory Futurma episode quotation by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fry: Hey! Stephen Hawking! Aren't you that physicist who invented gravity?
    Hawking: Sure. Why not?
    Fry: Let me ask you something. Has anyone ever discovered a hole in nothing with monsters in it? [Hawking's eyes widen in horror.] 'Cause if I'm the first, I want them to call it a "Fry Hole."

    Later:

    Fry: So what do you nerds want?
    Nichols: It's about that rip in space-time that you saw.
    Hawking: I call it a "Hawking Hole."
    Fry: No fair! I saw it first!
    Hawking: Who is The Journal Of Quantum Physics going to believe?

    Interesting note: Apparently Stephen Hawking did provide his voice for that episode.

  6. For the grammatically challenged by Hypharse · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the speech synopsis:
    The Euclidean path integral over all topologically trivial metrics can be done by time slicing and so is unitary when analytically continued to the Lorentzian. On the other hand, the path integral over all topologically non-trivial metrics is asymptotically independent of the initial state. Thus the total path integral is unitary and information is not lost in the formation and evaporation of black holes. The way the information gets out seems to be that a true event horizon never forms, just an apparent horizon.

    For those grammatically declined I'll explain it to you with an analogy. It's like when you were in high school and used mirrors to peek around the corner into the girl's locker room. The naked chick in the mirror is the APPARANT horizon. The naked chick that kicks the testes back inside your body shortly after DOES NOT EXIST.

    Also, just for laughs (ok...hopefully for mod points too, I admit) Hawking is also a freaking awesome DJ and serial killer on the side. All my Shootin's be driveby's

    Wu's site has other cool stuff to see too. (not a plug, just want to give credit to where the song is downloaded from)