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Black Holes: Not as Black as They Are Painted

Professor Stephen Hawking delivers the second of his Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Reith Lectures on black holes.

Professor Stephen Hawking examines scientific thinking about black holes and challenges the idea that all matter and information is destroyed irretrievably within them. He explains his own hypothesis that black holes may emit a form of radiation, now known as Hawking Radiation. He discusses about the search for mini black holes, noting that so far "no-one has found any, which is a pity because if they had, I would have got a Nobel Prize." And he advances a theory that information may remain stored within black holes in a scrambled form.

The programmes are recorded in front of an audience of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio listeners and some of the country's leading scientists at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London. Sue Lawley introduces the evening and chairs a Q&A session with professor Hawking. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio listeners submitted questions in their hundreds, of which a selection were invited to attend the event to put their questions in person to professor Hawking.

(Photo: Scientist Stephen Hawking of 'Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking' speaks via satellite during the 2010 Television Critics Association Press Tour 2010, in Pasadena, California. Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

23 minutes

Last on

Tue 2 Feb 2016 15:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 2 Feb 2016 14:06GMT
  • Tue 2 Feb 2016 15:06GMT

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An illustrated guide to black holes

As explained by Stephen Hawking

The Reith Lectures on Radio 4

Archive recordings from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's flagship annual lecture series going back to 1948