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otalp | 5 years ago

Would Hawking have got it with them?

discuss

order

kdavis|5 years ago

Yes. Penrose’s prize is largely for the Penrose-Hawking Theorems[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose–Hawking_singularity_th...

codethief|5 years ago

What I don't understand is this: The Singularity Theorems already assume the existence of a trapped surface (and by implication, of a marginally outer trapped surface, i.e. an apparent horizon, i.e. a black hole) and then conclude that there must be a singularity inside.

Experimentally, though, we know absolutely nothing about this and the recent black hole-related discoveries (gravitational waves, Event Horizon Telescope) can certainly not be seen as a proof of the existence of singularities, either.

Now the Nobel Prize committee says that the discovery is actually

> “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.”

But this has virtually nothing to do with the most famous piece of work by Penrose, i.e. the Singularity Theorems.

SiempreViernes|5 years ago

Not sure, he's most famous for work on black hole thermodynamics, not really about formation.

PopePompus|5 years ago

At most three people can win, so they would have had to bump one of the three who did win.