Stephen Hawking, one of the most celebrated physicist of all time, had conducted several research to understand black holes and outer space throughout his career. Hawking's black hole theorem has been a famous topic of interest amongst physicists around the world. This theorem was proposed in 1971. Under this theorem, Hawking suggested that it is impossible for a black hole to decrease in size over a period of time. This theorem is said to be similar to Einstein's theory of relativity stating that entropy (disorder) cannot decrease overtime, it constantly and consistently increases. Now the recent study further confirms both Einstein's as well as Hawking's theories collectively. 

Since time immemorial researchers have put in a lot of efforts in gaining knowledge about the universe outside the Earth. They have indeed come a long way, but there is still a lot to explore. The topic of black holes has fascinated space enthusiasts, researchers and physicists for a long time. 

HOW IS A BLACK HOLE FORMED IN THE UNIVERSE? 

It is formed due to the death of a star with a huge gravitational field, such that the matter gets squeezed into the small space under it, hence trapping the light of the dead star. A black hole can also be defined as a large region is space which has such strong gravitational pull that it can pull anything inside of it which comes into its range. It does not even allow light to pass through it. 

MEASURING BLACK HOLES: NEW STUDY THAT CONFIRMS HAWKING'S THEORY

The recent theory proposed by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has now confirmed that Hawking was right all this time with his theorem. The team of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of technology led by astrophysicist Maximiliano lsi used the data of gravitational waves released due to the merging of two black holes into one to reach this conclusion. This gravitational waves data was collected using the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). This data was divided into two time segments i.e., before and after the merger. 

The researchers then used this collected data to find out the difference in the surface area of the black hole before and after the merger. The calculations undertaken showed that the total surface area of the combined black hole was greater than the individual black holes before the merger. This observation keeps up with the area law which states that the size of black holes does not decrease over time. 

“A black hole's surface area can't be decreased, which is like the second law of thermodynamics. It also has conservation of mass, as you can't reduce its mass, so that's analogous to the conservation of energy", lead author Maximiliano told Live Science. 

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