Dynamics and Evolution of Galactic Nuclei - Info and Reading Options

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Of all the legacies of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, none is more fascinat- ing than black holes. While we now take their existence almost for granted, black holes were viewed for much of the 20th century as mathematical curiosities with no counterparts in nature. Einstein himself had reservations about the existence of black holes. In 1939 he published a paper with the daunting title “On a stationary system with spherical symmetry consisting of many gravitating masses”. In it, Einstein sought to prove that black holes—objects so dense that their gravity prevents even light from escaping—were impossible. Einstein’s resistance to the idea is understandable. Like most physicists of his day, he found it hard to believe that nature could permit the formation of objects with such extreme properties. Ironically, in making his case, Einstein used his own general theory of relativity. That same theory was used, just a few months later, to argue the opposite case: a paper by J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland S. Snyder, entitled “On continued gravitational contraction”, showed how black holes might form.