1783 CE
John Michell Proposes Dark Stars
English clergyman John Michell posits the existence of 'dark stars' whose gravity is so strong that light cannot escape, anticipating the modern black hole concept. #physics #astronomy
Chronological Storyline (46 Milestones)
1796 CE
Laplace Refines Dark Star Idea
Pierre-Simon Laplace independently calculates the critical radius for a star to trap light, later known as the Schwarzschild radius, in his book 'Exposition du Système du Monde'. #physics #astronomy
By James Posselwhite - www.britannica.com, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11128070
Nov 25, 1915 CE
Einstein Presents General Relativity
Albert Einstein presents the final field equations of general relativity, providing the theoretical framework for black holes as solutions to his equations. #physics #relativity
By Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Lensing (SXS) - https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v3 (video link); see also http://www.black-holes.org/gw150914, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46994894
1916 CE
Schwarzschild Solution Discovered
Karl Schwarzschild finds the first exact solution to Einstein's field equations, describing a non-rotating black hole and defining the event horizon and singularity. #physics #blackholes
1918 CE
Reissner-Nordström Solution Found
Hans Reissner and later Gunnar Nordström independently derive the solution for a charged, non-rotating black hole, extending Schwarzschild's work. #physics #blackholes
1931 CE
Chandrasekhar Computes White Dwarf Limit
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculates the maximum mass for a white dwarf (~1.4 solar masses), implying that more massive stars can collapse further, leading to neutron stars or black holes. #astrophysics #chandrasekhar
1939 CE
Oppenheimer and Snyder Predict Collapse
J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder show that a sufficiently massive star can undergo gravitational collapse to form a 'frozen star', a precursor to the black hole concept. #physics #blackholes
1963 CE
Kerr Discovers Rotating Black Hole Solution
Roy Kerr finds the exact solution for a rotating black hole, a crucial step for realistic astrophysical black holes. #physics #blackholes
1964 CE
Quasars Discovered as Distant Powerhouses
Astronomers identify quasi-stellar objects (quasars) as extremely luminous active galactic nuclei, later understood to be powered by supermassive black holes. #astronomy #quasars
By ESO/M. Kornmesser - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1122a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15700804
1967 CE
Jocelyn Bell Burnell Discovers Pulsars
Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish detect the first pulsar, providing evidence for neutron stars and indirectly supporting black hole physics. #astronomy #pulsars
By Launch_of_IYA_2009,_Paris_-_Grygar,_Bell_Burnell.jpg: Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic derivative work: Anrie (talk) - Launch_of_IYA_2009,_Paris_-_Grygar,_Bell_Burnell.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9988968
1969 CE
Penrose Process for Energy Extraction
Roger Penrose proposes a mechanism to extract rotational energy from a Kerr black hole, important for powering jets. #physics #blackholes
By L3erdnik - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114665784
1970 CE
Cygnus X-1 Identified as Black Hole Candidate
The X-ray source Cygnus X-1 is discovered, becoming the first widely accepted stellar-mass black hole candidate through its binary system with a massive star. #astronomy #blackholes
By IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg) - [1], CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15406373
1972 CE
Black Hole Thermodynamics Proposed
Jacob Bekenstein proposes that black holes have entropy proportional to their event horizon area, leading to the laws of black hole thermodynamics. #physics #blackholes
By JRennocks - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128242974
1974 CE
Hawking Radiation Proposed
Stephen Hawking theoretically shows that black holes emit thermal radiation due to quantum effects near the event horizon, leading to gradual evaporation. #physics #hawkingradiation
1974 CE
First Candidate Black Hole: Cygnus X-1 Confirmed
Further observations solidify Cygnus X-1 as a black hole, with mass exceeding 14 solar masses, making it the first confirmed stellar-mass black hole. #astronomy #xrays
1975 CE
Hawking and Bardeen on Black Hole Evaporation
Stephen Hawking and James Bardeen improve the theory of black hole evaporation, showing that primordial black holes might explode today. #physics #cosmology
By European Space Agency - https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Did_black_holes_form_immediately_after_the_Big_Bang https://open.esa.int/image-usage-creative-commons/, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113427057
1985 CE
Black Hole Complementarity Proposed
Leonard Susskind, 't Hooft, and others propose black hole complementarity to resolve the information paradox, suggesting no contradiction in quantum mechanics and general relativity. #physics #quantumgravity
1990 CE
Hubble Spies Supermassive Black Hole in M87
The Hubble Space Telescope provides strong evidence for a supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87 by observing a rotating disk of material. #astronomy #supermassiveblackhole
By en:NASA, en:STScI, en:WikiSky - http://wikisky.org/snapshot?img_size=&img_res=&ra=12.5138&de=12.3896&angle=0.0293&projection=tan&rotation=0.0&survey=astrophoto&img_id=905632&width=2160&height=2160&img_borders=&interpolation=bicubic&jpeg_quality=0.8, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7598267
1993 CE
First Observation of Black Hole Accretion Disk
X-ray observations of binary systems reveal the first direct signatures of accretion disks around black holes, such as iron K-alpha lines. #astronomy #accretion
By NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-visualization-shows-a-black-hole-s-warped-world, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82619352
1994 CE
Evidence for Black Hole in Milky Way Center
Using the New Technology Telescope, astronomers find compelling evidence for a supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center by tracking stellar motions. #astronomy #galacticcenter
2002 CE
Sagittarius A* Confirmed as Supermassive Black Hole
Observations of star orbits near the Galactic Center confirm Sagittarius A* as a supermassive black hole, earning a Nobel Prize for Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez in 2020. #astronomy #galacticcenter
By EHT Collaboration - https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2208-eht-mwa/ (image link), CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117933557
2006 CE
Kerr Solution Verified for Rotating Black Holes
The Kerr metric, describing rotating black holes, becomes essential for modeling astrophysical black holes, as virtually all black holes spin. #physics #blackholes
By Yukterez (Simon Tyran, Vienna) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50352912
2009 CE
Radio Observations Probe Black Hole Jets
Very Long Baseline Interferometry reveals detailed structures of relativistic jets from supermassive black holes, advancing understanding of jet formation. #astronomy #jets
By ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray) - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0903a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5821706
2010 CE
Relativistic Jet Launching Simulations
High-resolution computer simulations show how magnetic fields can launch relativistic jets from black hole accretion disks, confirming the Blandford-Znajek process. #physics #jets
By NASA - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2247.html, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19412899
2011 CE
Nobel Prize for Accelerating Universe (Dark Energy)
While not directly about black holes, the discovery of dark energy influences black hole cosmology, and Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess win the Nobel. #physics #cosmology
By Design of the medal: The Nobel Foundation. Sculptor and engraver: Erik Lindberg (1902). - Source of this work Photographer: David Monniaux (2005, 2006, 2007) Edited by: hidro 21:17, 28 July 2008 (UTC) Design of the medal: The Nobel Foundation. Sculptor and engraver: Erik Lindberg (1902)., Cc-by-sa-3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18622921
2013 CE
Higgs Boson Discovery Affects Black Hole Theory
The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN provides new constraints on vacuum stability, which affects predictions of black hole formation in high-energy particle collisions. #physics #higgs
By CERN for the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations - https://cds.cern.ch/record/1630222, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29737816
Sep 14, 2015 CE
First Gravitational Wave Detection by LIGO
LIGO detects gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger (GW150914), confirming a direct prediction of general relativity and opening a new observational window. #physics #gravitationalwaves
By B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration) — full list at the end of the article - http://physics.aps.org/featured-article-pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102 . See also the associated Jupyter notebook., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46987868
Jun 15, 2016 CE
LIGO Detects Second Black Hole Merger
LIGO announces the detection of GW151226, a binary black hole merger with masses of about 14 and 8 solar masses, further confirming the population of stellar-mass black holes. #physics #ligo
By LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration - http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.241103 This plot was created with Matplotlib., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49503102
Sep 22, 2017 CE
LIGO and Virgo Combine for First Triple Detection
The first gravitational wave detection with three observatories (LIGO-Hanford, LIGO-Livingston, Virgo) provides much better sky localization for a binary black hole merger. #physics #gravitationalwaves
By LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.141101 (GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence, Abbott et al., Physical Review Letters) This plot was created with Matplotlib., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62823015
Oct 16, 2017 CE
LIGO-Virgo Detect Neutron Star Merger (GW170817)
The first detection of a binary neutron star merger (with a black hole? actually neutron star) also provides insights into gamma-ray bursts and heavy element formation, with possible black hole remnant. #astronomy #gravitationalwaves
By LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration - https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101 This W3C-unspecified plot was created with Matplotlib., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63455773
Apr 10, 2019 CE
First Image of a Black Hole (M87*)
The Event Horizon Telescope releases the first ever direct image of a black hole's shadow, captured at the center of galaxy M87. #astronomy #eventhorizontelescope
By D. Marrone/UofA - Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133002860
Jun 6, 2019 CE
Black Hole Merger with Asymmetric Masses
GW190412 is the first strong evidence of a black hole merger with unequal masses, providing insights into formation channels. #physics #gravitationalwaves
Dec 13, 2019 CE
First Black Hole Triple System Discovered
Astronomers discover a system with a black hole and two companion stars, challenging theories of black hole formation and evolution. #astronomy #blackholes
By Telescopium_constellation_map.png: Torsten Bronger derivative work: Kxx (talk) - Telescopium_constellation_map.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10945380
Mar 20, 2020 CE
LIGO Detects Largest Black Hole Merger Yet
GW190521 is a merger of two black holes with masses 85 and 66 solar masses, forming a ~142 solar mass black hole, the first direct detection of an intermediate-mass black hole. #physics #gravitationalwaves
Sep 2, 2020 CE
First Black Hole of 'Mass Gap' Confirmed
Gravitational wave detection GW190814 reveals a compact object of 2.6 solar masses, lying in the gap between neutron stars and black holes, possibly a light black hole. #physics #gravitationalwaves
By R. Abbott et al. - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab960f https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab960f, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91561140
Oct 6, 2020 CE
Nobel Prize for Black Hole Discoveries
Roger Penrose wins half the Nobel Prize in Physics for showing black hole formation is a prediction of general relativity; Genzel and Ghez share the other half for Sagittarius A*. #physics #nobel
Apr 7, 2021 CE
Black Hole Information Paradox Advances
The 'island formula' and Page curve calculations in quantum gravity suggest that Hawking radiation does preserve information, resolving a decades-old paradox. #physics #quantumgravity
By Event Horizon Telescope, uploader cropped and converted TIF to JPG - This media was produced by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), under the identifier eso1907a This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing., CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77925953
2021 CE
Black Hole Merger Detected with Lensing Signal
LIGO and Virgo detect GW190521, the first black hole merger within the pair-instability mass gap, challenging stellar evolution models. #physics #gravitationalwaves
By R. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration) - https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.101102 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.101102, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93889989
May 12, 2022 CE
EHT Images Sagittarius A*
The Event Horizon Telescope reveals the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. #astronomy #sgra
Jul 13, 2022 CE
JWST Observations of Early Quasars
The James Webb Space Telescope discovers supermassive black holes in the early universe, some over 10 billion solar masses, challenging models of black hole growth. #astronomy #jwst
By NASA - https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114125719
Jan 9, 2023 CE
Black Hole Spin Measurement from Jet Precession
Scientists measure the spin of a supermassive black hole in galaxy M87 by analyzing the precession of its jet, using years of radio observations. #astronomy #blackholes
May 25, 2023 CE
Milky Way's Black Hole Spinning Near Speed Limit
New analysis of S-star orbits indicates Sagittarius A* spins at about 87% of the maximum allowed by general relativity. #astronomy #sgra
Oct 3, 2023 CE
Nobel Prize for Attosecond Physics (Not BH)
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L'Huillier win Nobel for attosecond physics, which has implications for ultrafast processes near black holes, but not directly. #physics #nobel
2023 CE
First Observation of Hawking Radiation? (Simulated)
While not directly observed, laboratory analogues and theoretical advances continue to explore Hawking radiation, with no definitive astrophysical detection yet. #physics #hawkingradiation
Jan 18, 2024 CE
LISA Mission Approved by ESA
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is formally adopted by the European Space Agency to detect gravitational waves from supermassive black hole mergers in space. #physics #gravitationalwaves
By NASA, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10372273
Apr 16, 2024 CE
First Detection of a 'Wandering' Black Hole
Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm a wandering intermediate-mass black hole in the Milky Way, ejected from a dwarf galaxy. #astronomy #blackholes
By Michael Rich, Kenneth Mighell, and James D. Neill (Columbia University), and Wendy Freedman (Carnegie Observatories) and NASA - http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1996/11, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1185511