Pippa Goldschmidt

The strangest objects we know of

The idea of black holes sounds modern — but it’s been around since 1784, says Pippa Goldschmidt

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  • Black Hole

    Marcia Bartusiak

    Yale University Press, pp. 240

The idea of black holes sounds so quintessentially modern and 20th-century that it may come as a surprise to learn that it originated over 200 years ago; John Michell, a natural philosopher and clergyman, used Newtonian physics to conceive of a star massive enough to prevent even light from escaping its gravitational pull.

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