Black holes started as an idea in 1783 when John Michell thought of “dark stars” trapping light with gravity, a notion Pierre-Simon Laplace shared in 1796. In 1915, Einstein’s relativity showed gravity warps space, and in 1916, Karl Schwarzschild suggested a point where light can’t escape. By the 1930s, scientists like Chandrasekhar and Oppenheimer said big stars could collapse into these dense spots. John Wheeler named them “black holes” in 1967. Proof came later: in 1971, Cygnus X-1 hinted at

History almost forgot John Michell, the visionary priest who predicted black holes in 1783 using nothing but Newtonian physics. | Sunday Roast

❓ If information cannot be destroyed, what happens to the matter that falls into a black hole? This question brought two fundamental theories into conflict: Einstein's general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. This confrontation became known as the “information paradox.” In this popular science film, we will: ▪️ Trace the history of a great discovery: from John Michell's prediction of "Dark Stars" in 1784 to the triumphant confirmation of the existence of the first black hole candidate