Black Hole Initiative

The Black Hole Initiative (BHI) is an interdisciplinary center at Harvard University that includes the fields of astronomy, physics, and philosophy, and is claimed to be the first center in the world to focus on the study of black holes.^[1]^[2]^[3] Principal participants include Sheperd S. Doeleman, Peter Galison, Avi Loeb, Andrew Strominger and Shing-Tung Yau.^[1] The BHI inauguration was held on 18 April 2016 and attended by Stephen Hawking;^[4] related workshop events were held on 19 April 2016.^[1] Robbert Dijkgraaf created the mural for the BHI Inauguration.^[5]

The BHI is funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Harvard University allocated office space for the BHI on the second floor of 20 Garden Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The BHI is an independent Center within the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Harvard University.

If determinism — the predictability of the universe — breaks down in black holes, it could break down in other situations. Even worse, if determinism breaks down, we can’t be sure of our past history either. The history books and our memories could just be illusions. It is the past that tells us who we are. Without it, we lose our identity.
— Stephen Hawking, BHI Inauguration, Harvard University, 18 April 2016^[4]

References[edit]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Staff (2017). "Black Hole Initiative - Harvard University". Harvard University. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
^ Grigorian, Alec J. (11 May 2016). "Black Hole Initiative Receives $7.2 Million in Funding". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
^ Staff (2016). "The Black Hole Initiative: Towards A Center For Interdisciplinary Research". John Templeton Foundation. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Reuell, Peter (18 April 2016). "Hawking at Harvard - At packed Sanders Theatre, theoretical physicist and cosmologist tackles the contradictory qualities of black holes". Harvard University. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
^ Staff (18 April 2016). "Robbert Dijkgraaf Creates Mural for Black Hole Initiative". Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

External links[edit]

Official website
Official Youtube Channel
Inauguration workshop events (19 April 2017):

[BHI-2016-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Staff (2017). "Black Hole Initiative - Harvard University". Harvard University. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

[THC-2016-2] Grigorian, Alec J. (11 May 2016). "Black Hole Initiative Receives $7.2 Million in Funding". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

[JTF-2016-3] Staff (2016). "The Black Hole Initiative: Towards A Center For Interdisciplinary Research". John Templeton Foundation. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

[Hawking-2016-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b Reuell, Peter (18 April 2016). "Hawking at Harvard - At packed Sanders Theatre, theoretical physicist and cosmologist tackles the contradictory qualities of black holes". Harvard University. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

[IAS-2016-5] Staff (18 April 2016). "Robbert Dijkgraaf Creates Mural for Black Hole Initiative". Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved 18 November 2017.

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v t e Black holes
Outline
Types	BTZ black hole Schwarzschild Rotating Charged Virtual Kugelblitz Supermassive Primordial Direct collapse Rogue Malament–Hogarth spacetime
Size	Micro Extremal Electron Hawking star Stellar Microquasar Intermediate-mass Supermassive Active galactic nucleus Quasar LQG Blazar OVV Radio-Quiet Radio-Loud
Formation	Stellar evolution Gravitational collapse Neutron star Related links Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit White dwarf Related links Supernova Micronova Hypernova Related links Gamma-ray burst Binary black hole Quark star Supermassive star Quasi-star Supermassive dark star X-ray binary
Properties	Astrophysical jet Gravitational singularity Ring singularity Theorems Event horizon Photon sphere Innermost stable circular orbit Ergosphere Penrose process Blandford–Znajek process Accretion disk Hawking radiation Gravitational lens Microlens Bondi accretion M–sigma relation Quasi-periodic oscillation Thermodynamics Bekenstein bound Bousso's holographic bound Immirzi parameter Schwarzschild radius Spaghettification
Issues	Black hole complementarity Information paradox Cosmic censorship ER = EPR Final parsec problem Firewall (physics) Holographic principle No-hair theorem
Metrics	Schwarzschild (Derivation) Kerr Reissner–Nordström Kerr–Newman Hayward
Alternatives	Nonsingular black hole models Black star Dark star Dark-energy star Gravastar Magnetospheric eternally collapsing object Planck star Q star Fuzzball Geon
Analogs	Optical black hole Sonic black hole
Lists	Black holes Most massive Nearest Quasars Microquasars
Related	Outline of black holes Black Hole Initiative Black hole starship Black holes in fiction Big Bang Big Bounce Compact star Exotic star Quark star Preon star Gravitational waves Gamma-ray burst progenitors Gravity well Hypercompact stellar system Membrane paradigm Naked singularity Population III star Supermassive star Quasi-star Supermassive dark star Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Superluminal motion Timeline of black hole physics White hole Wormhole Tidal disruption event Planet Nine
Notable	Cygnus X-1 XTE J1650-500 XTE J1118+480 A0620-00 SDSS J150243.09+111557.3 Sagittarius A* Centaurus A Phoenix Cluster PKS 1302-102 OJ 287 SDSS J0849+1114 TON 618 MS 0735.6+7421 NeVe 1 Hercules A 3C 273 Q0906+6930 Markarian 501 ULAS J1342+0928 PSO J030947.49+271757.31 P172+18 AT2018hyz Swift J1644+57
Category Commons

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]