Black Holes Explained

What would happen if gravity were so strong that even light could not escape its pull? The answer to this question is the shocking and amazing object known as the black hole. What is a black hole like? How were they first discovered? How do astronomers know if they're seeing one? Quantum mechanics turns black holes from cold, eternal objects into hot shrinking thermodynamics. Physicists wondered: Is there a microscopic origin for black hole entropy? Find out how and why string theory modifies the spacetime equations of Einstein. Thanks to the string duality revolution of the early nineties, a microscopic derivation for black hole entropy has been discovered, at least in theory.