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  • BOOK REVIEW

The contentious genius who made black holes real

Roger Penrose, now 93, never shied away from wild ideas and the ensuring debates. The first full-length biography reveals more about the mathematician and the man.
  1. Davide Castelvecchi
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Roger Penrose seated in front of a blackboard filled with various mathematical formulas and equations.

Roger Penrose was one of the pioneers who established the theory of black holes. Credit: APA-PictureDesk/Alamy

The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius Patchen Barss Basic (2024)

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Nature 636, 34-36 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03917-x

References

  1. Penrose, R. Bull. Inst. Math. App. 10, 266–271 (1974).

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  2. Penrose, R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 14, 57–59 (1965).

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  3. Penrose, L. S. & Penrose, R. Br. J. Psychol. 49, 31–33 (1958).

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