Oppenheimer and Snyder compute continued gravitational contraction
J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder published a calculation of a spherically symmetric pressureless cloud collapsing under its own gravity, showing that it contracts indefinitely and that a distant observer sees the collapse freeze at the Schwarzschild radius while an observer riding the surface passes through in finite time. It is the first description of what would later be called a black hole. Its influence was limited for two decades, partly because the idealised assumptions invited dismissal and partly because the physics community was about to be redirected by the war.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The singularity · concept · not located
- The event horizon · concept · not located
- Time dilation near a horizon · phenomenon · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
On Continued Gravitational Contraction
The first relativistic description of indefinite gravitational collapse, including the divergence between the infalling and distant descriptions of the crossing. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: not consulted in session; no research tool was available. Volume and page are from recall of a canonical citation and must be checked.
Physical Review · 1939 · Partly verified
J. R. Oppenheimer and H. Snyder, Physical Review 56, 455 (1939)
Recorded on The singularity
- Schwarzschild solves the field equations for a point mass
- Oppenheimer and Snyder compute continued gravitational contraction
- Penrose proves that collapse to a singularity is generic
- GW150914 - two black holes merge and the signal reaches Earth
- S2 passes pericentre and its light is measurably redshifted
- The Nobel Prize in Physics recognises black holes twice over
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Nobel Prize in Physics recognises black holes twice over · 2020-10-06
- S2 passes pericentre and its light is measurably redshifted · 2018-05
- GW150914 - two black holes merge and the signal reaches Earth · 2015-09-14 09:50:45 UTC
- Penrose proves that collapse to a singularity is generic · 1965
- Schwarzschild solves the field equations for a point mass · 1916