The British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has made last week for excitement in the research community. In a study he proposes to rethink the boundaries between black holes and their environment. He thus changed the character of these astronomical objects, but without abandoning the fundamental concept.

For an "interesting proposal" keeps Herbert Balasin of the TU Vienna, the three sides concise paper by Hawking. Whether he manages thus to unite quantum mechanics and general relativity, now let not yet be answered seriously, the gravitational physicist says in science.