Clearest gravitational-wave detection yet confirms Hawking’s black-hole theory

Using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), researchers have confirmed the late Stephen Hawking’s theorem that the surface area of a black hole can never decrease. Physicists detected the gravitational waves of two black holes fusing together, and later the vibrations produced by the single black hole birthed by the collision. Analysis of this ‘ringdown’ showed that the resulting black hole had a surface area of 400,000 square kilometres — almost double the combined surface area of its parents.