Cracking the Einstein Code: Relativity and the Birth of Black Hole Physics

Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity describes the effect of gravitation on the shape of space and the flow of time. But for more than four decades after its publication, the theory remained largely a curiosity for scientists; however accurate it seemed, Einstein’s mathematical code—represented by six interlocking equations—was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. That is, until  1963. Roy Kerr’s solution emerged coincidentally with the discovery of black holes ...