Dr. Samir Mathur spoke with us in class today about Stephen Hawking and the physics behind his discoveries and black holes. He informed us that Hawking had two main ideas: Hawking radiation, and black hole information paradox. I found it interesting when he talked about the horizon of the black hole and how if something crosses the horizon, it can’t cross back. In addition, another point in particular that raised my curiosity was when he mentioned that the universe eventually came from an infinite point and there was a set starting point for the universe. I feel like there are so many theories about how the universe came about, I find it hard to believe that there can be a set point to start. I feel this might be true, but finding it seems nearly impossible because it’s hard to tell when something starts, most of the time it’s a long time before its actually noticeable. Overall, I liked how he gave us a science presentation and tried explaining it to us instead of just lecturing about the history of the people. I appreciated it, but didn’t like how he spent a long time explaining the big bang theory, then told us it counteracts with string theory and could be all wrong. This lecture left me very confused with all the theories possible.
Yes, it is a frustration to those of us outside the field that much of what is explained can be completely wrong. In the context of the class, however, it does seem like theoretical physics works very much like the rest of science, with shifting paradigms. It s a little easier in fields like chemistry or medicine, however, to see progress and hold on to things that seem closer to objective truth.