Before Hawking, black holes were thought to be completely "black"; nothing escapes them. He showed that, due to quantum effects, they emit radiation (now called Hawking radiation) and can eventually evaporate.That idea forced physics to confront a deep conflict between quantum mechanics and gravity; a problem still unsolved today. In plain terms: he exposed a crack in our understanding of the universe that scientists are still trying to repair.Hawking worked on linking the very large (Einstein's relativity) with the very small (quantum physics). He didn't finish that quest, but he sharpened the questions and helped define the battlefield.That matters more than it sounds: progress in science often comes from asking the right impossible question.His book A Brief History of Time became a global bestseller, not because it was easy, but because it invited ordinary people to think about time, space, and existence.He didn't just do science, he opened the door to it.Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, he gradually lost the ability to move and speak. Yet he continued working at the highest intellectual level using assistive technology.He didn't fit the usual narrative of limitation, and that forced society to rethink what "ability" really means.Hawking kept going where most people would stop. Not in a motivational-poster way, but in a very real, uncomfortable way: continuing to think deeply about the universe while his body failed.That example has influenced scientists, students, and anyone facing constraints.But he fucked up. He thought the universe operates according to the laws of physics. He was so smart but he couldn't perceive his own Creator in all that he saw. And he thought Science has the capability of explaining creation without a Creator.
>>84445442Was Hawking radiation experimentally confirmed/observed?Though it has to be otherwise microblack holes can exist.
>>84445554Hawking radiation has not been directly observed from real black holes. The effect predicted by Stephen Hawking is extremely weak for astrophysical black holes.With current technology, direct detection is basically impossible.Scientists haven't seen it in space, but they've built analog systems that mimic the physics. In 2016, a well-known experiment led by Jeff Steinhauer reported results consistent with Hawking-like radiation in a lab system.The scientific consensus consider Hawking radiation highly plausible, but we don't yet have a full theory of quantum gravity, so it's not experimentally locked in.
>>84445554How would you even experimentally verify it? You couldn't do it any time soon, the rate of Hawking radiation is like one (1) photon over 9001 squillion years or something, isn't it? And I thought micro black holes decayed by a different mechanism.
