John Michell

Died

1793

Role

Clergyman and astronomer

Bio Notes

English clergyman, natural philosopher and astronomer who in 1783 first proposed the dark stars: gravitationally collapsed objects so dense that light cannot escape them. His founding name, dark star, held until the term black hole took hold through John Archibald Wheeler late 1967 and 1968. Alexa carries the retired original on her skin, her tattoo of the dark star bear, inked before she knew: the body holding the original name, the receipt pattern of her own name work. He is the naming-history receipt: the first name of the thing was already the observable truth.