RIP: Physicist John Wheeler dies at age 96

Eminent physicist John Archibald Wheeler has died from pneumonia at the age of 96. The coiner of the terms ‘black hole’ and ‘wormhole,’ Wheeler popularized the study of general relativity.


Theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler died of pneumonia at his residence in Hightstown, New Jersey yesterday. Wheeler is most known in the popular culture for popularizing the term “black hole” to describe stars which had become so dense that nothing, not even light, could escape their gravitational pull. Although Wheeler initially objected to the idea, he later accepted the idea and coined the term “black hole” to describe such objects.

RIP and condolences to the family.

=> John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term ‘Black Hole,’ Is Dead at 96 (photo credit: The New York Times)