Black Hole Existence Predicted!

This post lends itself more towards the educational but I will attempt to keep it entertaining for the general populace. I suggested that I might cover this subject at the end of my last post realizing my readership may wane from its posting. Everyone knows that Albert Einstein predicted and mathematically proved the existence of Black Holes. Right? That's what they used to teach when I was in school. I can't comment today about what is or isn't taught in schools as I no longer have children attending school. They already have their Masters in other areas. Well, Einstein got credit for the prediction of the existence of Black Holes when he published his General Theory Of Relativity in 1915. A solution to Einstein's field equations regarding gravitational fields of a point mass and spherical masses were given by Karl Schwarzchild a few weeks later which was confirmed by another theorist. That still doesn't answer the question at hand. Who originally predicted the existence of Black Holes?

An English Geologist, no less, by the name of John Michell suggested the existence of Black Holes way back in 1783 in a letter to Henry Cavendish of the Royal Society. 1783! That's a year or two before Einstein's time, I'd say! His letter in part read:

If the semi-diameter of a sphere of the same density as the Sun were to exceed that of the Sun in the proportion of 500 to 1, a body falling from an infinite height towards it would have acquired at its surface greater velocity than that of light, and consequently supposing light to be attracted by the same force in proportion to its vis inertiae, with other bodies, all light emitted from such a body would be made to return towards it by its own proper gravity.

            
            —John Michell

In layman's terms: If the gravitational pull of an object is strong enough to crush it down to a singularity, not even light can escape its grasp. There. That made it easier to understand. Right? John Michell subscribed to Sir Isaac Newton's theories on gravity and deduced his hypothesis solely based on Newton's observations. All this one hundred thirty-two years before the aforementioned Einstein got world-wide credit for suggesting the possibility of black holes using math.

I began to study Theoretical Physics on my own when I was but nine years old.  When I came to Einstein's work, some things just didn't add up to me.  As a result, I have long held some questions about accuracy in regards Einstein's equations and several of his equations have been found to contain errors which have been corrected over the years. Yes! Einstein made some errors in some of his calculations. That is not a bad thing. No person can know everything but he sure did impress the world with his thinking.

We all know what Einstein looked like because he lived during a time where photography was more commonplace. John Michell, however, did not. There exists no painted likeness or photographs of the man. There remains only a brief description of the man written by one of his contemporaries which follows:

John Michell, BD is a little short Man, of a black Complexion, and fat; but having no Acquaintance with him, can say little of him. I think he had the care of St. Botolph’s Church Cambridge, while he continued Fellow of Queen's College, where he was esteemed a very ingenious Man, and an excellent Philosopher. He has published some things in that way, on the Magnet and Electricity.’

(Cole MSS XXXIII, 156, British Library).

A very ingenious man, indeed. I cannot get over why this man is not given credit for his knowledge as well as his black hole prediction! He probably never achieved Einstein's status of recognition because much of his line of thinking was far beyond the times in which he lived. I hazard to guess that only a handful of contemporary Theoretical Physicists know the name. If so, they recognize it solely as a minor footnote to their educational background. John Michell. Yet another “Man Before His Time”.

Thanks for reading. I trust you gained a few more tidbits for your trivia game. I believe in education. I believe there must be more out there beyond our ever expanding horizon of learning. I believe in you and hope that you will take it upon yourself to learn something new each and every day. Most importantly, I put my trust in you that you will make it a personal goal to share and pass your knowledge on to others as often as opportunities arise.

A Point To Ponder:

Nothing with mass can attain escape velocity from beyond the event horizon of a black hole. Every one knows this because our teachers and text books tell us so. Also, nothing with mass can attain light speed because of the sheer energy it purportedly requires to go that fast. You still with me? We know that light is made of particles. Particles contain mass! Assuming this to be correct, how can any mass, such as particles traveling on a wave, attain light speed?

This, Dear Reader, is the multi-trillion dollar question. Figure this one out and humanity just may be able to travel beyond the stars! Happy Pondering!