Dr. Samir Mathur’s talk on the history of Stephen Hawking and his theories as well as modern-day physics was very fascinating. I was already well aware of black holes and had some background knowledge in physics. Yet, I had never truly understood what Hawking’s contributions to the field were. I knew more about his physical struggles than about his impressive work. I was intrigued to hear about Hawking’s work to prove black holes will form as well as his later work into the black hole information paradox and Hawking Radiation. His final theoretical work came with the Hartle-Hawking wave function which tries to explain the Big Bang. Dr. Samir Mathur explained how the current work in physics shows that what we see in the universe is only 5% of what is actually out there. He also told us a very exciting piece of news, that in physics every 10 years or so there is a breakthrough.
This at least gives hope that there should continually be something new and exciting to learn about and study. This also gives us hope the there will one day be answers to many of the questions we still ask ourselves about the stars and about this universe we all live in. Dr. Samir Mathur’s explanation of how a black hole is formed and what exactly it is, helped me to relate to the subject. Also, his view that anybody with a basic physics knowledge can understand all of these concepts allowed me to feel like a part of the conversation and I greatly enjoyed his talk with us.
I agree that the talk was very unique and relatable. I, like you, Kaleb, am waiting for the next big breakthrough.