I had a bet with Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology that in fact Cygnus X-1 does not contain a black hole. This was a form of insurance policy for me. I have done a lot of work on black holes, and it would all be wasted if it turned out that black holes didn’t exist. But in that case, I would have the consolation of winning my bet, which would bring me four years of the magazine Private Eye. In fact, although the situation with Cygnus X-1 has not changed much since we made the bet in 1975, there is now so much other observational evidence in favor of black holes that I have conceded the bet. I paid the specified penalty, which was a one-year subscription to Penthouse, to the outrage of Kip’s liberated wife.

I had a bet with Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology that in fact Cygnus X-1 does not contain a black hole. This was a form of insurance policy for me. I have done a lot of work on black holes, and it would all be wasted if it turned out that black holes didn’t exist. But in that case, I would have the consolation of winning my bet, which would bring me four years of the magazine Private Eye. In fact, although the situation with Cygnus X-1 has not changed much since we made the bet in 1975, there is now so much other observational evidence in favor of black holes that I have conceded the bet. I paid the specified penalty, which was a one-year subscription to Penthouse, to the outrage of Kip’s liberated wife.

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A cosmological credit default swap.

Stephen Hawking (via jstn)