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Stephen Hawking—Who Boycotts Israel—Could Have Famous Theory Proven By Israeli Scientists

An experiment carried out at Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology could prove famed physicist Stephen Hawking’s theories about the nature of black holes, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

Hawking hypothesized in 1974 that black holes contain subatomic light particles that could escape and take energy with them, eventually leading to the dissolution of the black hole. This theory runs contrary to the popular belief that nothing can escape from a black hole’s the gravitational pull.

Black holes are too distant from Earth to detect such particles, but Technion professor Jeff Steinhauer and his team were able to created similar conditions in their laboratory. In the experiment, the black hole was created of sound particle instead of light. Steinhauer discovered that tiny energy particles could indeed escape the simulated black hole.

Steinhauer has submitted his paper for peer review to determine whether his experiment proves Hawking’s theory. There may be some doubt over whether the escaped particles prove the theory or if they come from a different source, like a design flaw in the experiment.

“The experiments are beautiful,” Silke Weinfurtner, a physicist at the University of Nottingham who is also trying to prove Hawking’s theory, told The Times of London last week. “Jeff has done an amazing job, but some of the claims he makes are open to debate. This is worth discussing.”

If the Israeli team’s findings are accepted, it would be the strongest proof yet for Hawking’s theory, perhaps earning him a Nobel Prize in physics. Ironically, Hawking supports an academic boycott of Israel.

[Photo: LastWeek Tonight / YouTube ]