What Would Happen If You Fell into a Black Hole? January 19, 2011

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/10/27/Ian_Morison_Why_Not_to_Fear_Black_Holes

British astronomer Ian Morison describes a bleak, yet comical, prognosis should you happen to fall into a black hole. Dubbed "spaghettification" extreme gravitational forces would quickly stretch your body like spaghetti as the event horizon neared.

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Black Holes seem to have bad press that is largely undeserved. This lecture with professor Ian Morison explains what Black Holes are, how we can discover them even through they cannot be seen and how Stephen Hawking has shown that they are not totally black. - Gresham College

Gresham Professor of Astronomy Ian Morison made his first telescope at the age of 12 with lenses given to him by his optician. Having studied Physics, Maths and Astronomy at Oxford, he became a radio astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Observatory and teaches Astronomy and Cosmology at the University of Manchester.

Over 25 years he has also taught Observational Astronomy to many hundreds of adult students in the North West of England. An active amateur optical astronomer, he is a council member and past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy in the United Kingdom.

At Jodrell Bank he was a designer of the 217 KM MERLIN array and has coordinated the Project Phoenix SETI Observations using the Lovell Radio Telescope. He contributes astronomy articles and reviews for New Scientist and Astronomy Now, and produces a monthly sky guide on the Observatory's website.