Challenging the Views of Stephen Hawking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PorED1i9fs8

Imagine having the nerve to argue against  Stephen Hawking – certainly the best known and one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of our time. Physicists Gerard ’t Hooft and Leonard Susskind disagreed with Hawking’s theory of the ultimate fate of black holes.  Hawking had proposed that as matter falls into a black hole, the black hole emits particles which have become known as Hawking radiation.  Eventually, this process causes the black hole to disappear and with it, any information about the matter that fell into it.  Hooft and Susskind agreed with the mathematical basis of Hawking’s theory but couldn’t accept the physics.  In this video, Hooft and Susskind describe the delicate dilemma they faced in challenging Hawking.  Their story is an excellent example of the importance of questioning in the nature of science.

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