Stephen Hawking's Voice Was Beamed Into Black Hole
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking had his ashes interred at Westminster Abbey in London last week, and he also received a send-off to space: the European Space Agency beamed music that included snippets of his synthesized voice into the closest known black-hole. A fitting tribute to Hawking, who was renowned for his work on black holes: in 1974, he demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, black holes do emit radiation (a phenomena that became known as “Hawking radiation).
Hawking died in March 2018 at age 76. Greek composer Vangelis wrote the six-minute musical tribute for Hawking, including a clip of a message of peace and hope from Hawking. The song was beamed towards a black hole 3,500 light years away. The black hole lives in a binary system with an orange dwarf star. When the piece eventually makes its way to the black hole, thousands of years from now, the song “will be frozen in by the event horizon,” explained Professor Günther Hasinger, ESA's director of science.
"This is a beautiful and symbolic gesture that creates a link between our father's presence on this planet, his wish to go into space, and his explorations of the universe in his mind," Hawking's daughter Lucy, said. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Hawking will find company in Scientists’ Corner, a part of Westminster Abbey dedicated to esteemed scientists. Hawking’s ashes will rest between the graves of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. On his memorial stone is inscribed his equation, which describes the entropy of a black hole.
(via Engadget)
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