Comments on: Happy New Year folks!

By: Ananth

Ananth — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:10:08 +0000

The bet between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne about Cygnus.
If Hawking won, Kip would gift him a subscription of Private Eye and if Kip won, Hawking would gift him a subscription to Penthouse.

By: username

username — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:55:45 +0000

In 1975, cosmologist Stephen Hawking bet fellow cosmologist Kip Thorne a subscription to Penthouse magazine for Thorne against four years of Private Eye for him that Cygnus X-1 would turn out not to be a black hole. It was, so Hawking lost. It has been said that Hawking hoped to lose the bet, since so much of his own work depended upon the existence of black holes.

By: duriel

duriel — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:54:54 +0000

Cygnus X-1 black hole bet, between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne.

If CygnusX1 is a blackhole, Kip gets 1 year of penthouse.
If it aint, Hawking gets 4 years of Private-Eye.

apparently:
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