Some of Stephen Hawking’s theories revolutionized the way we see the universe, but others have left scientists still questioning. Still, he is one of the greatest theorists and scientists of the modern period.
Though his theories seemed far removed from the time he formulated them, he went as far as the limits of science intelligence. Some of his theories are slowly integrating into the flow of science, with evidence supporting them such as explaining the beginnings of the universe or black holes, but others are still pending.
The Big Bang Theory
For a long time, scientists have clashed their ideas on the creation of the universe holding on to the scales two main theories: the Big Bang and the Steady State. In both the expansion of the universe was accepted, but the first says that it was expanding from an ultra-compact state, very dense in the past, while the second assumes that this expansion has always occurred, with new matter constantly being created to store a constant density. Hawking proved that the theory of the Steady State contradicts itself, and his theory is already widely accepted by physicists.
Black holes exist
More than anything else, Hawking’s name is associated with black holes, which are created when a star undergoes total extinction under its own gravity. Einstein’s theory of relativity made him relate famous equations to quantum mechanics, and this led scientists to think that there really could be something like this in the universe. The final test was when a telescope captured an image of the massive black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy in 2019.
Hawking radiation
Black holes are so called because light particles (photons) are absorbed by them. But Hawking proved that the truth is more complicated than that. Applying quantum theory, the idea that pairs of “virtual photons” could be created spontaneously out of nothing – he realized that some of these photons would appear to be irradiated from the black hole. The theory was recently confirmed in a laboratory experiment in Israel after scientists used an acoustic analog – a “sound black hole” from which sound waves could not escape, instead of a real black hole. They discovered the equivalent of Hawking radiation exactly according to the physicist’s predictions.
Black hole surface theorem
Another theory about black holes, not in vain his name is closely related to them. In classical physics, entropy is the disorder of a system that with time only increases, does not decrease. Hawking proved that in the case of the black hole, entropy is measured from the surface surrounding the horizon where it occurs. This means that the surface of the black holes is much larger at the end than at the strands of their creation.
