We have come a long way since physicists first hypothesized about black holes in the late 1700s. In April 2019, we captured our first picture of a black hole, and since then, research has been constantly progressing, with scientists consistently expanding our understanding of the universe. Yet still, so much remains a mystery about black holes, and our place in the universe with them.
Physicist Jonas Enander tackles some of science’s most mind-bending questions about black holes in Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth. Today, he answers some of our most pressing questions about black hole research, shares what it’s like to travel the globe researching black holes, and gives us a sneak preview of the content in the book.
Why did you write a book about black holes?
Jonas Enander: I was deeply struck by the black hole image released by the Event Horizon Telescope in April 2019, so I set out on a journey to understand what we know about black holes today and the human element of that knowledge.
Many books about black holes already exist. What sets your book apart?
JE: The human side: Facing Infinity highlights the stories of historical and contemporary scientists, and the surprising impact that black holes have on us.
What places did you visit during your research for Facing Infinity?
JE: I visited telescopes and observatories at Maunakea on Hawai‘i, LIGO Hanford in Washington, Harvard, MIT, the French Alps, and the Spanish Sierra Nevada. I also visited a university archive in Göttingen, Germany; the war site close to where the black hole formula was discovered during First World War; Onsala Space Observatory on the Swedish west coast; several research institutes in the Netherlands; and, several years ago, the South Pole Telescope on Antarctica.
Did you have a favorite place that you visited during your research?
JE: The profound significance of Maunakea for the Indigenous population, and their struggle to preserve its status against what one could call colonial astronomy, deeply affected me.
What meeting stood out the most during your interviews?
JE: One of the many highlights of my trips was meeting Larry Kimura, professor of Hawaiian languages at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. His story of the near extinction of the Hawaiian language and how black hole research was used to combat this process was inspiring and unexpected.
What do you find the most fascinating about black holes?
JE: That they simultaneously represent an absolute limit to our knowledge about the universe and, at the same time, hold the key to understanding the fundamental properties of space, time and the laws of nature.
If it was possible to visit a black hole and learn one thing about them firsthand, what would you want to experience?
JE: I would want to know the ultimate fate of the matter that falls into a black hole.
What are some of the ways that black holes affect our lives on Earth?
JE: The matter that swirls around black holes can create some of the most intense light in the cosmos. Scientists observe this light to create a cosmic reference frame, which in turn can be used to study properties of the Earth. Thanks to black holes, scientists can get a detailed understanding of how the Earth’s rotation changes or how the continents move. So, we can learn more about the Earth by observing black holes!
Furthermore, black holes might play a role in the potential evolution of life in the cosmos, since they shape how cosmic structures form and how elements spread throughout the universe.
There are several other examples and speculations about how black holes affect life on Earth, but these—the study of the Earth and the impact on the evolution of life—are the two main examples.
How did black hole research lead to advancements in technology, such as GPS and Wi-Fi?
JE: Thanks to the cosmic reference frame and the study of how the Earth’s rotation undergoes minute changes, scientists can improve the calibration of our global navigation satellites (such as the GPS). So, when we use navigational apps on our smartphones, we get a tiny bit of help from black holes to find our way.
The Wi-Fi protocol was developed in part by engineer John O’Sullivan. He used radio techniques that he and his colleagues had originally created to search for black holes exploding in their final stages of Hawking radiation. While they didn’t find any hint of such explosions, they found an application for the radio techniques in a communications protocol that we use every day all over the world.
What is the most surprising thing you learned during your research for Facing Infinity?
JE: Definitely that black holes, in the form of quasars, are used to better understand our own Earth. It shows how fundamental research can have unexpected consequences, and there’s a deep beauty in how black holes, which are pure creations of space and time, help us better understand the space we inhabit on this tiny little planet that is our home.
