Blackholes from 1783-1920

Albert Michelson was born in 1852 and died in 1931. He was born in Germany, but came over to America when he was two years old. He graduated from the U.S. naval academy and later went on to lecture there. Michelson is most famous for his work that he did with Morely. The Michelson and Morely experiment probably goes down as one of the most successful "failures" They set out to prove that light travels through ether. Depending on the direction through which light is travelling through ether, there should be varying speeds. The experiment in fact confirmed that light travels at a uniform speed no matter which direction it is travelling in. Michelson also announced one of the longest standing values given to the speed of light (299,853 kilometers per second). This value remained unchallenged for nearly 30 years, at which point it was updated by Michelson himself. Michelson’s work in determining the speed of light set a platform for Einstein to develop his work in relativity, and also to determine the mass of particular objects based upon their gravitational effect on light which is travelling at a known velocity.

Hermann Minkowski was born in 1864 in Alexotas, Russian Empire. He died in January of 1909. Minkowski studied at the Universities of Berlin and Konigsberg. He then went on to teach at several universities, Bonn, Konigsberg, and Zurich. Minkowski accepted a chair in 1902 at the University fof Gottingen. He remained at the university for the rest of his life. This is where Minkowski learnt mathamatical physics from Hilbert and his associates. Minkowski considered space and time to be coupled together in a four-dimensional space-time contiuum. This was contradictory to the previous train of thought which believed that space and time were independent of one another. Minkowski was a pure mathamatician and his work in the area of the space-time continuum provided the framework for much of the work in Einstein’s theory of relativity. Minkowski’s theory and formulas would later support the idea that time and space are actually curved and not consisting of a straight line.

Karl Schwarzschild was born in 1873 and he died in 1916.

Karl Schwarzschild was born in 1873 and he died in 1916. He studied at Strasbourg and then at Munich where he obtained his doctorate. From 1901 until 1909 he taught at Gottingen. Karl’s papers on relativity were the first to give an exact solution to Einstein’s general gravitational equations. His spacetime studies were among the first to study blackholes, and their gravitational effects on other heavenly bodies. This spacetime study came down to three physical predictions:

It explained the motion of the planets around the sun.
It accounted for the Anomalous Advance of the Perihelion, which was a tiny effect in the orbits of the planets which could not be accounted for .
It accounted for the bending of starlight as it passed by the sun. This could only be studied during an eclipse because normally the sun’s radiance was to bright to allow for the light from the star to be observed.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany. He died on April 15, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. This one man has contributed more than any other scientist to the modern vision of physics and reality. His theory of relativity is considerred to be human thought of the highest quality. In 1886 Einstein began his schooling in Munich. There he studied academically, religiously , and also learned the violin. In 1896 Einstein renounced German citizenship and was stateless for several years. He became a Swiss citizen in 1901. Einstein went on to study at ETH in Zurich. Einstein held several temporary positions as a teacher before landing a long standing job at the patent office.

Einstein is most noted for his works on Special Theory and General Relativity. The General Theory of Relativity states that time and space are curved. Large masses or objects actually cause space and time to bend. It is best related by observing the effects of placing a bowling ball in the middle of a stretched out rubber sheet. Einstein also stated that time and space were relative to the inertial plane they are being observed from. Extreme masses or extreme velocities can actually warp time and space enough that time could actually stand still, or reverse for that matter. Einstein’s General Theoy of Relativity actually allows for "blackholes" to exist in a mathamatical formula, but we are yet to actually prove their existence. Einstein himself believed that the idea of a blackhole was propondorous.

In 1783 John Michell wrote a paper which was about 100 years ahead of its time. This was the first paper to infer that gravity could actually bend light. Einstein many times gets the credit as being the first scientist to come up with the theory of gravitational properties also applying to light. Einstein’s paper of 1911 is probably the best one to compare with Michell’s paper of 1783. Two key points that were made in Michell’s paper were:

Many of Michell’s theories and predictions were well ahead of any instrumentation that could be used to measure their validity. He knew this, and the paper served to make people aware of the possibilities. In 1783 John Michell had presented the possibility of a body that’s gravitational force was so great that it would not let off light, today we call that body a black hole.