Since August 2nd, 1999
When they first began to experiment with artifically summoned Black Holes during World War II, in Operation Weisskopf, the Nazi Scientists could not even concieve of the Black Hole's higher intelligence, thinking of them as merely portals to another world.
Strangely enough, it was HP Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos that first began to teach the world about these horrible abominations.
During the fifties, sixties and seventies, both American and Soviet scientists were hard at work studying this phenomenon. The soviets, working in their secret Moon Base discovered the living essense of Black Holes first, but thought that they were mere mindless brutes.
Since the fall of the Russian soviet empire further studies have proven the self awareness of these hideous creatures.
The CIA continue to conduct their own dangerous and deadly experiments within the confines of the Pentagon.