It’s science time, people! We love science, don’t we? Sadly, the world lost one of the biggest scientists since Einstein recently. I’m talking about Stephen Hawking.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest contributions Stephen Hawking has made to science in his lifetime.
The Big Bang Theory
Not the TV show – the actual event of how the universe was born out of a cosmic implosion and expanded exponentially in several milliseconds to nearly the size that it is today.
Gravitational Singularities
Gravitational singularities, as we all know, are the cores of black holes where gravity approaches infinity and space and time cease to exist. As a result, the laws of physics don’t apply to these singularities. Or maybe that’s what the physicists want you to believe!
Hawking Radiation
Hawking radiation is a type of radiation released by black holes due to quantum effects. This radiation reduces black hole mass and energy, which means that if the black hole doesn’t gain mass through absorbing other stars or having an unhealthy lifestyle, it will eventually evaporate.
Alien Life
Hawking was one of the scientists that was a firm believer we weren’t alone in the universe and it was actually almost impossible for us to be alone. His theories expanded far beyond the usual “we need to find Earth-like planets” and even left room for non-water based lifeforms. That would mean life could be present on planets that don’t have water or other qualities usually associated with planets that can sustain life as we know it.
The Hartle-Hawking State
This was the state the universe was in before the Big Bang happened. Shortly put: there was nothing. Literally nothing.
The Laws of Black Holes
We’ve seen quite a bit of Hawking’s work on black holes above, but he did much, much more. Most of his work and research dealt with black holes, wormholes, and everything that’s freaky and weird about space. There’s four laws of black holes and they’re pretty much additions to the laws of thermodynamics to allow room for the existence of black holes. Since the laws of thermodynamics are only threefold, the laws of black holes start with the zeroth law. Because science!
