© Jeremy NorthumRenowned physicist professor Stephen Hawking delivers a lecture, “Out of a Black Hole” Monday in Rudder Auditorium.
What once was a concept of science fiction, the mystery of black holes are slowly being uncovered, said Professor Steven Hawking Monday in Rudder Auditorium in his lecture "Out of a Black Hole."
In an introduction Chris Pope, professor of physics at Texas A&M and astronomy and holder of the Stephen Hawking chair in fundamental physics, said he had been working with Hawking ever since he studied under him.
"I think it is safe to say that Stephen requires no introduction. I would, however, like to add words of my own as I have had the very great privilege to know him," Pope said.
"Stephen's research has been in some of the most challenging questions in physics, where did we come from? How will it end up?"
Because Hawking stumped the physics community in 1975 by showing that black holes are not black at all, but they emit radiation, Pope said, he created the problem concerned with the apparent loss of information inside the black hole. It is something Hawking has been worried about ever since.
To a sold out auditorium, as well as sold out overflow seats in the Rudder Theatre, Hawking began his lecture with a comparison of a 1970s movie Black Hole.
"It wasn't a very good film but it had an interesting ending," Hawking said. "In fact, science fiction writers should not be taken so much by surprise, the idea of black holes has been around the scientific community for over 200 years."
Hawking continued the lecture by explaining what exactly a black hole is as recognized by the modern scientific community.
At the start of the lecture Hawking said a black hole is a star that is collapsed on its gravitational pull, and light cannot escape from this mass. A black hole does not retain information.
"You can throw your diamond rings or your worst enemies, and all the black hole will remember is the total mass and the speed of rotation," Hawking said.
For most of his scientific career, nothing could ever escape from a black hole, but in recent years Hawking has changed his stance on the subject.
Hawking explained this conundrum as an encyclopaedia being burned to ashes - all of the matter is still there but it is extremely hard to pull out the original information.
"This means that a black hole contains a lot of information that is hidden from the outside world," Hawking said. "It is impossible that anything escape out of a black hole or so that's what we once thought, but I discovered that particles can leak out of a black hole."
Hawking suggested the information inside of a black hole should not be lost, but he had difficulty in his research finding the answer to how the information could be preserved.
To wrap up his lecture that was sprinkled with humor, Hawking said, "Black holes are not the inescapable prisons we once thought. So if you feel that you are in a black hole, don't give up."
The lecture was followed by a question and answer session with a panel of distinguished physicists, with questions ranging from dark matter to how the universe will end. Jonathon Chung, a sophomore electrical engineering major, said the lecture was interesting but wanted Hawking to go into more detail.
"The one thing that I did not know about black holes was the information conundrum about how information is going in and it seems to get lost while information is mass and energy," Chung said.
Eileen Cook, freshman forestry major, said she thought it was an interesting, funny and informative lecture.
"I think it is awesome, I know he is really involved at the A&M campus, A&M has a really good physics program and it is an honor that he is here," Cook said.
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