How were Black Holes discovered?

Brainy Blonde

Black Hole weren't really 'discovered.' They came to be known through ideas, theories and mathematical equations, starting about 200 years ago by the English geologist John Michell. In 1916, Einstein expanded his Special Theory and then referred to it as his General Theory of Relativity. German astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild, using Einstein's theories calculated a solution he called a Schwarzschild singularity. Scientists theorize that a singularity lies at the center of a black hole, a term physicist John Wheeler coined in the 1960s. For more detailed information, see: http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/BlackHoles.html Sep 24 02, 8:35 AM

Gnomon

After black holes were 'invented' by the physicists, the search began to see could they find any real ones. You can't actually see a black hole, because it is black, but you can see various evidence of its existence. A number of sites have been found which show strong evidence that there is a black hole there, so in this sense, black holes have been 'discovered'. Sep 24 02, 10:12 AM