Scientists might have proved Stephen Hawking's theory of black holes

Professor Stephen Hawking undoubtedly had the most gifted mind mankind has ever seen. His mind soared the furthest reaches of the universe while sitting on a wheelchair. It's a known fact that a lot of his work is a compilation of well-thought theories and not just observations.

Now scientists have taken his work forward by proving one of his biggest and most important concepts. Hawking suggested that black holes vanish due to the Hawking Radiation, which is the radiation released by the galactic gobblers.

This process is called black hole evaporation and suggests they disappear over long periods of time. Hawking has gone on record saying that he could win a Nobel Prize if this astonishing phenomenon was observed in real life. Unfortunately, the amount of radiation is too small to be seen easily using the equipment available to scientists.

But a team of scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have created a simulated black hole inside an optical fiber and suggested that the observation fall in line with Stephen Hawking's theory.

The experiment involved blasting two beams of light at each other to create a simulated 'event horizon' which is the point in a black hole beyond which nothing can return - not even light. It was found that the artificial event horizon showed the signs mimicked the process that Hawking predicted.

'Hawking radiation is a much more general phenomenon than originally thought,' physicist Ulf Leonhardt told Physics World. 'It can happen whenever event horizons are made, be it in astrophysics or for light in optical materials, water waves or ultracold atoms.'