The existence of black holes is one of the most exciting and mysterious topics in modern astrophysics. Although their reality has long been denied leading scientists, back in the 18th century, the British priest, based on Newton’s laws, predicted these cosmic objects.
Born in 1724 in the village of Ikring, England, John Michell showed extraordinary abilities for learning from an early age. His father, Gilbert Michell, was the rector of the parish and appreciated the independence of thinking, which was transmitted to his son. John was educated in Cambridge, where he had been studying in various fields for more than 20 years, such as theology, geology, and astronomy. In Cambridge, he also proved himself as an inventive experimenter, independently creating equipment for his research.
In 1750, he released a treatise entitled “A Treatise of Artificial Magnets”, in which he introduced the law of the reverse square for magnetic interaction. In 1760, he published work on the mechanics of earthquakes, where he described the layered structure of the earth’s crust and proposed a method for assessing the epicenter of earthquakes. These discoveries have become an important contribution to the science of the Earth.
One of his most significant discoveries was the assumption of the existence of objects with such severe gravity that they do not allow the light to leave their surface. In 1783, he published a work in which he used Newtonian principles to explain the behavior of light under the influence of gravity. He calculated that if the star is quite massive and dense, its gravity will be able to hold the light, making such a star invisible to observers on Earth. This idea was a harbinger of the modern concept of black holes.
From the point of view of the 21st century, the idea that the employee of the Christian Church is in the center of scientific life may seem amazing. However, like the majority of the 17th-century intellectuals, John Michell did not conduct a clear distinction between religion and science. The appearance of telescopes in the early 1600s caused a significant philosophical coup throughout Europe.
The established, observed hierarchy of God’s creation – Earth and Heaven – was shaken by the fact that historian Alexander Koyre calls “an indefinite and even endless universe”, which was to understand through the study of “its fundamental components and