“In my 2000 paper, I pointed out the fact that experimental physicists had failed to find any evidence for Hawking Radiation, and I predicted neither will be there any such evidence in [the] future because there could not be any exact horizon, any exact black hole in the first place,” the 62-year-old told Quartz in an email. “Accordingly, I exerted that there is really no Black Hole Information Paradox.”
A black hole is a region of space with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. This is due to the extreme curvature of space caused by a massive amount of matter being squeezed into a small space.
The physicist who questioned black holes is Stephen Hawking. He was a renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist who made significant contributions to our understanding of black holes, gravity, and the origins of the universe.
Hawking's research on black holes revealed that they emit radiation, now known as Hawking radiation, and eventually evaporate over time. This challenged the widely accepted belief that nothing could escape from a black hole.
Yes, Hawking's questioning and subsequent research on black holes significantly changed our understanding of them. His work showed that black holes are not completely black and that they can emit radiation, which has implications for the theory of general relativity and the nature of the universe.
Hawking's questioning of black holes was controversial because it challenged long-held beliefs about these astronomical objects and raised new questions and theories that were not yet fully understood. His ideas sparked debates and further research in the scientific community.