Hawking, Einstein and Newton, the three shibboleths of the Holodeck Exploratoriacs, teh alleged sceince of the 24th cce.
although black holes were discussed before Einstein, I don't know that they were taken to be real, before his use of the math ... not that it was all, his.
I do not believfe in them, personally; there is no experimental evidence to dis/confirm them.
