Fundamental Breakdown of Physics in Gravitational Collapse

This scientific paper by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking was the center of an obscure but important argument in physics over whether information is permanently removed from the universe by black holes. Hawking’s 1976 paper established the idea that black holes can remove information forever. Some physicists, most notably Leonard Susskind, defied this idea. The debate raged for 28 years until Hawking came around and agreed that indeed, information is not lost in black holes. 

Therefore, Hawking reasoned, his disproved paper had become science fiction. He donated this copy to MoPOP to be part of the museum’s science fiction holdings.  

This copy is part of the “Orange Aid Preprint Series,” a system used to circulate academic papers to interested parties before publication. “Orange Aid” preprints were sent to astrophysicists; “Lemon Aid” preprints to nuclear physicists.