Black holes in Kongens Nytorv, black holes in the Black Diamond, Black holes everywhere!

Black holes came to Copenhagen in August 2024. The Strong Group & The Niels Bohr Institute celebrated 50 years of Hawking radiation and a decade of amazing developments in black hole science. Worldwide experts gathered at the Black Diamond and at the Planetarium, to discuss what we don't know yet and what we would like to understand about black holes.

We have called it the #blackholeweek.

Black holes are the destiny of dead stars. They fall onto themselves and puncture the universe. Some think that black holes allow for time travel, some think that we can talk to our ancestors if we fall into one. Fifty years ago, Stephen Hawking predicted that black holes evaporate, according to the same rules that Niels Bohr discovered, of quantum mechanics. But we don't know how black hole interiors behave, nor even how they evaporate, since our laws of physics break down when we try to do the math behind the ideas. But we know that the power of the intellect and sheer will can allow us to move forward in our understanding.

The Strong team and all of the NBI are celebrating an object that challenges our notion of space and time, an object that the universe produces. In a scientific conference at the iconic Black Diamond venue, we welcomed some of the most important experts to Copenhagen, where they talked about black holes and updated the research community. The vibrant community expressed itself in exciting round table discussions addressing open issues. In a poster session, all participants voted for outstanding posters. Winners were Jaime Redondo-Yuste, Marina de Amicis and Conor Dyson, all from NBI. The favourite online poster was that of João Santos, IST.

In Kongens Nytorv, a science/art display covered all modern aspects of black hole science. Black holes should be enjoyed, whether you are 5 or 500 years old.

You can download the BHIO group photo here and the concert photos here and here.
All photos by artist Sjoerd Knibbeler.