![]() A black hole is dark and bare and empty, you say, and that’s a big concept to start off with. IRA FLATOW: I mean, this is different from what a lot of people think. IRA FLATOW: And you open your book with the phrase that you repeat a lot, all throughout the book, and that is, black holes are nothing. There’s something theoretically impressive about them, that they’re this unbelievable terrain on which we think about things. There’s something foundational about them. They’re almost like fundamental particles. Black holes are almost fundamental gravitational objects. So there they’re astounding because nature thought of a way to make them, which is incredible, by killing off a bunch of heavy stars.īut they are more than that. But Einstein sensibly said, nature will protect us from their formation. So the first time Einstein was presented with the idea of a black hole, a friend writes him a letter from the Russian front during World War I, right after he publishes general relativity with this mathematical solution. Black holes are extraordinary in that they’re astrophysically real. What is it about black holes that keeps you coming back for more? This isn’t the first book you’ve written about black holes, and it’s not the first time you’ve been on Science Friday to talk about them, as we’re saying. Let’s get right to this idea of the book. IRA FLATOW: We are, we are absolutely in the ether. JANNA LEVIN: Oh, Ira it’s so good, I would say, to be here, but we’re just sort of in the ether, aren’t we? Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York. Well, here with me to talk about her new book, Black Hole Survival Guide, is Dr. And maybe you’ll lose your mind, and you decide to jump in. Now imagine, as this intrepid astronaut, you come across a black hole in your travels. Peaceful beauty, no? Or maybe just a little bit intimidating. Imagine you’re an astronaut floating through the vastness of space with just endless solitude and quiet on all sides. ![]() Listen to a 2016 SciFri interview with Levin who discusses her previous book Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space.This book was selected as one of ScFri’s Best Books of 2020. Levin joins Ira to talk black hole physics and theories, and answer some SciFri listener questions along the way. Author Janna Levin, a physics and astronomy professor at Barnard College at Columbia University in New York, makes a convincing argument that black holes are unfairly maligned-and are actually perfect in their creation. As the reader traverses one of the great mysteries of the universe, they meet different fates. What would happen?Ī new book, Black Hole Survival Guide, explores different theories, most of them grisly. Maybe, in all that darkness, you lose your mind and decide to jump in. Now imagine, as this intrepid astronaut, that you come across a black hole. It’s peaceful, and a little intimidating. Imagine you’re an astronaut, floating through the vastness of space-just endless solitude and quiet on all sides.
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