1971/01/01 by R. Ruffini, Remo Ruffini, John A. Wheeler +1 · 1 voice · 35 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3022513
The quasistellar object, the pulsar, the neutron star have all come onto the scene of physics within the space of a few years. Is the next entrant destined to be the black hole? If so, it is difficult to think of any development that could be of greater significance. A black hole, whether of “ordinary size” (approximately one solar mass, 1 M⊙), or much larger (around 106 M⊙ to 1010 M⊙, as proposed in the nuclei of some galaxies) provides our “laboratory model” for the gravitational collapse, predicted by Einstein's theory, of the universe itself.