The idea of black holes sounds so quintessentially modern and 20th-century that it may come as a surprise to learn that it originated over 200 years ago; John Michell, a natural philosopher and clergyman, used Newtonian physics to conceive of a star massive enough to prevent even light from escaping its gravitational pull.
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Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £13.49 Tel: 08430 600033. Pippa Goldschmidt is the author of The Falling Sky.
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