In 1783, John Michell, an English country parson, introduced the idea of black holes. Despite being a brilliant scientist, Michell’s contributions are often overlooked because he did not promote his own ideas. Michell made significant achievements in various scientific fields, including the study of magnetism, seismology, and astronomy. He even proposed the concept of gravitational constant and applied statistics to astronomy. One of his most groundbreaking ideas was the existence of black holes, which he predicted by considering the escape velocity exceeding the speed of light. Although Michell’s proposal was ahead of its time, the concept was eventually rediscovered and further developed in the twentieth century by scientists like Karl Schwarzschild and Robert Oppenheimer.
One interesting aspect of Michell’s work is his suggestion that visible stars orbiting invisible black holes could help detect their presence. This method is still used today to infer the existence of black holes. While black holes have a strong gravitational pull close to them, the misconception that they act like cosmic vacuum cleaners and suck everything in their vicinity is incorrect. If the Sun were to become a black hole, the orbits of the planets would remain unchanged.
Overall, Michell’s contributions to the understanding of black holes and other
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