Black Holes
Laplace also came close to propounding the concept of the black hole. He pointed out that there could be massive stars whose gravity is so great that not even light could escape from their surface (see escape velocity). Laplace also speculated that some of the nebulae revealed by telescopes might not be part of the Milky Way but rather galaxies themselves. Thus, he anticipated Edwin Hubble's major discovery 100 years in advance.
Read more about this topic: Pierre-Simon Laplace
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or holes:
“By dying I wanted to maintain my honor, and hide a flame so black from the daylight!”
—Jean Racine (1639–1699)
“The danger lies in forgetting what we had. The flow between generations becomes a trickle, grandchildren tape-recording grandparents’ memories on special occasions perhaps—no casual storytelling jogged by daily life, there being no shared daily life what with migrations, exiles, diasporas, rendings, the search for work. Or there is a shared daily life riddled with holes of silence.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)