One of the last great human beings has passed on to History. Not much of Humankind left!
Glad he lived to 76 against all odds! Will be missed when needed most.
2
What a lovely article. I greatly enjoyed the personal anecdotes. Thank you.
7
It is a sad moment to hear the death of the world's most amazing figure Prof. Steve Hawking. I indeed admire his efforts in science, but disagree that he made significant contributions to science because most of his works are based on Einstein's relativity which has already been disproved for more than two years: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297527784_Challenge_to_the_Spec... and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297528348_Clock_Time_Is_Absolut...
Due to his great influence, all anti-relativity works are suppressed and rejected by all mainstream journals unconditionally. The situation is still there and science has been misled for more than one hundred years. I have been debating with numerous people on the Internet about the fatal mistake of relativity, but nobody can effectively defend it.
From this point of view, he has made a great contribution to block the progress of science in the world. Therefore, I am sorry that I couldn't but tell you that his net contribution to the world is negative, very negative!
Prof. Hawking is and always will be an inspiration for many like me, who aspire to join the scientific community. He would be deeply missed. Rest in peace, starman.
3
I see too may rest in peace Mr. Hawking! If it's possible, I don't think he will.
2
A friend recounted an interview Mr. Hawking did with John Oliver.
Oliver asked him if there might be another universe where John was smarter than he.
Stephen replied, "Yes. There is even a universe where you are funny."
Blessings
9
A little known fact was that he was one of us "Steves, Stephens, Stephans, Stephanies, etc." that belonged to that club: 1000 Steves say Teach Evolution. I'm a geologist (M. Steven S.) and loved his sense of humor.
When I first read about this, my thoughts were "Good - you're free now, Professor." I can't imagine that magnificent mind increasingly trapped in a prison that used to be one's body. I had the unalloyed pleasure of meeting him 4 times in my lifetime - each exposure a reminder that Physics and Mathematics are about relationships and discovery, a passage to Truth through logic.
Professor, you are free now. Your mind can passage the Universe in ways none of us can imagine just yet. Have fun.
3
I wonder... If only "W" hadn't invaded the wrong country. If only those trillion + dollars were put toward education, health and curing diseases ...if only.......
7
A wonderful article, but for one thing: "In popular culture Stephen was another kind of miracle: a floating brain, a disembodied intellect that fit snugly into the stereotype of the genius scientist." I appreciate that the cultural phenomenon of Dr. Hawking was peripheral to your essay, but it is of much greater consequence than you allow. Stephen Hawking reactualized a paradigm--the way Einstein did, or, to leap disciplinary barriers, Robert Frost. For many, he made theoretical physics tangible and meaningful by force of his character and circumstance. To use another, very crude, analogy, he was invested with the sort of symbolic force the Greeks invested Poseidon or Hermes, translating the incomprehensible into an approachable human symbol. If not a "force of nature," that Doctor Hawking could do so exemplifies a no less awesome force of culture.
4
None of the many obituaries I have read mention anything about Stephen's social and political activities. For obvious reasons. He opposed and marched against the USA's brutal invasion and War against Vietnam and Iraq. He supported the academic boycott of the zionist project. It's a disgrace that the corporate media fail to discuss this.
8
He was the perfect example of "Mind over matter". He will be missed.
6
Stephen Hawking. Very intelligent. He also cared about us.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40461726
3
Name a brilliant star after him. Or maybe a galaxy. What a remarkable man.
1
Thank-you. We make celebrities of people who outshine us all because of incidental things, like disability. We should spend more time learning about how Hawking and his peers contribute to knowledge, healing, and peace. I have ignored popular culture for decades and am much more inspired by science, art, and nature. Hawking was an indomitable spirit, a fierce and persistent thinker, and a man of great stamina and humor. Jane Hawking's autobiography of their marriage is a testament to survival amid the challenge of his illness and obsession with things beyond our horizon. RIP, Prof. Hawking. Nobel prizes are for lesser humans.
10
Stephen Hawking is a great example of "making the best of it" as put forth by Victor Frankl in "Man's Search for Meaning". He did not choose the option of just giving up.
3
I love his statement that "...heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark."
Obviously Hawking was an heroically brave man who will outlive most of us.
8
wishful thinking?
Only Steve will know but will be unable to confirm now that God IS as HEAVEN IS real.
I had the distinct good fortune to know and work with two Nobel laureates in physics during my career. In thinking about Stephen Hawking's legacy, I'm reminded of two outstanding characteristics common to these three world-class scientists.
First, their humility always preceded their intellect. This is best expressed in Hawking's quip, "People who boast about their IQs are losers."
Second is that none of them succeeded in isolation--and they always recognized and valued that. It takes a team of dedicated scientists and support staff working in unison to achieve anything truly great, along with years of hard work. In Hawking's case, this consisted of collaborators like Dr. Mlodinow along with many nurses, doctors, and caretakers. In the case of my two friends it was no different in spite of their lack of physical handicap.
As Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." That aptly sums up how I feel about all three of these rock stars of science. Godspeed, Dr. Hawking.
23
The idea that humility is a characteristic trait of “great” scientists is a misconception easily corrected by reading any history of science. The “humility” of scientists is restricted almost entirely to their submission to the tenet that theories require experimental verification before acceptance. Even this basic belief is threatened today by the esoteric nature of such tests, tests that can be understood only by teams of experts with decades of training, using observations with sophisticated machinery far beyond access to common sense, and whose use itself relies upon complex theoretical assessment.
1
Hawking was a technical genius and a very good publicist for science. However, like many scientists before him, his tolerance for subjects outside the scientific domain was short.
As an example, explained by Christopher Norris, “Stephen Hawking recently fluttered the academic dovecotes by writing in his new book The Grand Design – and repeating to an eager company of interviewers and journalists – that philosophy as practised nowadays is a waste of time and philosophers a waste of space. More precisely, he wrote that philosophy is ‘dead’ since it hasn’t kept up with the latest developments in science,”
There exists a myopia common among scientists that the methodology of science, in time, will explain everything. Hawking subscribed to this view.
7
A beautiful tribute to an extraordinary individual.
5
I do not like this photo of him. It is photo shopped and that is not how he would have wanted himself to appear. He looks like he is wearing lipstick. Come on NYTimes. Let's don't do this to this great man's memory. Put a better photo with this story. Please.
2
“What you don’t often hear about Stephen is that he loved a good curry...”
And you’ll never hear, not in the N.Y. Times anyway (I had to learn this from Al Jazeera), that Hawking supported the cause of the Palestinians and, among other actions, boycotted an Israeli-sponsored scientific conference to express support for Palestine.
I have to laugh when the Times castigates the progressive wing of the Democratic Party for its “ideological purity”. There is no greater guardian of the centrist, corporatist ideology than the Times.
12
He really was a force of nature. He will be missed greatly.
4
Rest in peace Stephen Hawking. Well done.
11
Stephen is fantastic a person.He embodies the daring,adventurist,courageous indomitable,human spirit in all its glory,vivacity filled with humor,mental stamina and dynamism,Also undoubtedly he is an extremely LUCKY person to be at the right place at the right times in the right company.He was highly valuable as a commercial product too,as the very face of physical science for almost half a century .
However,the fact of the matter is that none of his theories could be proved experimentally because he was not talking of anything discernible to the physical senses of humans.Neither could he indicate any practical applications to his mathematical theoretizations.He missed his Nobel Prize because of this factual reality.Cambridge University used him as the prime attraction in their publicity circus; proving once again that the British, famous as a "country of shop keepers" knew how to sell their wares.
But its almost unfair to comapre him with real geniuses like Newton or Einstein. This is not the right time to tell it.So, pardon me,for telling it.
He was upheld as the living face of theoretical physics based purely on his abstract mathematical propositions .But, Giants like Niels Bohr accepted as "science" only those ideas that could be proved experimentally.Apart from explaining every known phenomena in terms of the new postulations, the new postulations need be able to PREDICT future experimental results.Stephen , alas,doesn't measure up to these standards.Sorry.
4
“Disembodied” is an upsetting word choice here, especially when followed by “shell.”
Not even luminaries can escape the dehumanization of disability. Do these articles all need to detail the spoon-feeding and immobility Hawking lived with? Does a reflection on every conversation with him need to be qualified with how he used a machine to communicate? Of course, otherwise he would sound like an ordinary genius—much less inspirational.
4
The subhead on the home page reads: "His true strength was more than just his disembodied intellect." But Mlodinow uses that phrase only when he talks about popular culture's view of him, so the subhead is misleading, suggesting that Mlodinow shares this view. Hawking did indeed have a body and that body should not be written off.
3
I feel so bereft. Who knew a scientist’s death could make so many cry?
10
I hope that we can permanently honor the memory of this wonderful person by naming after him, a) a crater on the moon, b) an asteroid, and finally, and perhaps most appropriately, c) the next black hole that’s discovered.
5
The Universe feels bigger and emptier tonight.
And as a result, colder - on average.
10
Stephen Hawking was so good. With such a great mind. So much so that his time with us can almost make me forget about what a polar opposite we have as our so called leader now in my country.
Thank you Britain.
And I'm sorry for . . . well you know what.
10
Few if any of us will ever stand on Professor Hawkings' shoulders, and further his work, if we do not heed his most important conclusions:
"“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression,” the astrophysicist said. “It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.”
The human quality the scientist would most like to magnify was empathy. “It brings us together in a peaceful loving state.”
Human aggression is the one Black Hole neither Professor Hawking nor anyone else has been able to solve. Black Holes in the cosmos could wait for a Professor Hawking to understand them. But we may have little time to solve the Black Hole of human aggression here on Earth.
20
A human god.
An example of how one person can change the world.
3
With darkness, discernment's grace provides light's better offing. With black holes, life's order provides information's better words. Hence we are still grounded IN Stephen Hawking till we meet again when ONE with light.
5
The passing away of Stephen Hawking is like an addition of another star to the galaxies above. Knowing the certainty of death he lived life with enthusiasm and rare curiosity about the cosmic reality. His contribution of combining the gravity theory with the quantum theory of physics and his deeper insights into the black holes theory have made Stephen Hawking a rare contributor to the theory of everything. HIS "A Brief History of Time" is rare gift to the world looking for the answers about the mysteries of the universe.
22
All of us have, or will, benefit from the wonderful, incredibly creative and logical mind of Stephen Hawking. Only once in a very long time does a person arrive to help us increase our knowledge of the existence of mankind and the universe, and when this happens, not nearly enough of us realize the gift.
I shall miss him - not that I ever knew him personally -- but I shall miss his sly smile, his mischievous grin, and his incredible ability to sort out things -- a trait which seems to be more and more lacking in this modern world.
Thank you, Mr. Hawking -- rest in peace -- you earned it.
25
Can I say something less than glowing about Stephen Hawking?
For those few of us who don’t understand black holes, or why anyone would devote their lives to understanding them, the most famous thing about Hawking is not anything he did, but that remarkable voice box which he could control with the movements of his eyes. How did they do that? Now that’s genius!
Still, he managed to invade popular culture through TV and movies (and a book) by an odd combination of invalid who was a genius physicist. We haven’t seen that before very often. The closest I can think of is Helen Keller. It captured our imagination. We don’t have to be Taylor Swift to be famous. If Hawking can become rich and famous simply by being smart (ok - really smart), why can’t we?
5
Because you're not Steven Hawking. Next question...
4
Showbiz science is what propelled Hawking to "fame".
I was really saddened to hear of the death of this great man and scientist. Like the author here, I thought Stephen would go on forever, because even though he had this horrible disease he just kept going and going. It seemed like nothing could stop his spirit. It would be nice to think that he graduated to somewhere in the beyond, and exlaimed "Wow! Look at that! So much more to learn!".
11
Thank you so much for this intimate view. Just lovely.
10
Agreed. Thank you for sharing your personal experience!
3
Who better warrants Shakespeare's language: "nature might stand up and say to all the world, this was a man."
49
beautiful first-hand account and insight into a great mind and a man.
6
I wonder how much of his brain power that was no longer useful for motor skills changed function and adapted to add to his already superior intellect.
My mind tends to race ahead of my ability to express my ideas - it must have been exponentially more challenging for Mr. Hawking to get his thoughts out. Though he was obviously smart enough to take advantage of the slowness of his communications skills to make his highly complex ideas more concise for us laymen and laywomen to understand.
Like Mozart, imagine how much more he had to offer. For now we can enjoy the gifts he has left with us that will only last as long as humanity does.
8
I thought this was a very nice piece, and I'm very sorry for your loss, and everybody's.
5
Hawkins was a good fellow as well as a genius who loved to share his insights with the whole of mankind. We were all lucky to have been aware of what he had to share.
6
Consistent with his penchant for proving people wrong, I find it inspiring to believe that this public face of science will outlive his death - continuing to inspire the uninitiated and to remind the larger public of what it would take to solve the most pressing challenges of our time.
3
I first read of Stephen Hawking in the 1970s, while I was in my 20s, a decade I spent working for a sculptor, himself afflicted with Parkinson's Disease, and unable to easily build the cardboard and tape models he used to explore the Five Platonic Solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron) using exclusively Euclid's Elements of Geometric Construction, that produced his sculptures.
I had the privilege of being one of a small handful of people who worked for this sculptor, figuring out and building these models. They ranged from relatively simple solids to 3D tessellations constructed from 1,500 individual faces. We were proud of our craftsmanship and ability to execute these. And not a few were beautiful.
In the piece, written I believe by a Michael Lydon, possibly published in the New York Times, the author asked Hawking, "How do you work with the complicated formulas in your field, when you cannot even hold a piece of chalk?"
Hawking replied, "I think geometrically."
Hawking won my heart.
8
I admire Mr. Hawking and his genius, and may he rest in peace. But he did not overcome his illness and physical limitations by himself. His first wife, Jane, his family, and his nurse and then second wife were pivotal in his success. I wish a little bit more consideration was given to the way in which they contributed to Hawking being who he was. Indeed, behind every great man there is a great woman... or two, or more... At one point in time, Hawking was hospitalized with pneumonia, and had it not been for the insistence of his wife Jane against it, doctors would have "plugged him off" the ventilator that kept him alive. I salute Mr. Hawking genius, but my admiration also goes to the people -mostly women- behind him which made it possible.
63
I recall STEPHEN HAWKING back in the USSR in 1960-s in Moscow State University sitting in his chair answering QQ-s of young physicists. When I asked a guy next to me, WHO IS HE, he answered: IT'S THE MIND of the FUTURE.
I think now I understand what he meant then.
For me personally, HE WAS a GREAT MAN, an INSPIRATION for ALL of US.
5
Yes, Prof Mlodinow, I too was surprised by terrible disappointment at the loss of his presence in this world, unexpected for one who never even met him.
What I most loved about Stephen Hawking -- alongside his massive bravery, creative brilliance, contrarian dignity, intellectual integrity, and adorable cheekiness -- was his joy. Pure appetite for pleasure in living and the pursuit of his passion and curiosity. And, without vanity, a crystalline understanding of the magnificence of his gifts.
We are all the richer for his scientific revelations, yes, but even more so perhaps for the example that the realities of his life became. He made the quotidian out of the monstrous, rendered neutral self-pitying assessments that kill off the spirit, and barreled through, dealing with it as it came.
Who knows what internal tortures he faced down in order to show that joie de vivre and determination to the world? All of us are the better for his generosity, enriched by his example, and enlightened by the paradox of his atheistic grace.
29
In a world governed by appearances, Steven Hawking reminded us with his strength of character and tremendous intellect that it's what inside that really matters. The world is transitory, but we can bring meaning to this life by glimpsing the truth beyond humanity's cave.
5
I cried too. And I am a poet.
4
Truly, the greatest mind of the 21st century. Mr. Hawking was a priceless gem, this world will never forget.
2
The column and the remarks of commenters have increased my admiration and understanding of Stephen Hawking. Too bad President Trump could not find something inspirational and hopeful to say about a person who exuded courage and aspiration.
2
Mr Trump can’t even conceive Stephen Hawking much less appreciate him. If it’s not about Trump, it doesn’t exist. Sorry you had to bring him up here and disrupt the thread.
1
I always thought of Hawking as a fantastical real kind of science fiction superhero who was pure intellect and spirit constrained by a broken body only because those were the cards Hawking was dealt.
I think Hawking's entire life was a royal flush a great gamble that Hawking took on to prove his courage and resolve and to serve as a model to all other human beings to show what human dedication and resolve can really accomplish. Hawking's life and death are a testament to the indomitable spirit that resides in the human psyche and serves as an inspiration to all of humanity.
11
Sounds good, but what actual evidence do you have that he took on his life to prove his courage and resolve and to serve as a model to all other human beings?
Thank you for this piece! It gave us a glimpse into Stephen Hawkins. He lives on!
2
“It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. It's a crazy world out there. Be curious.” Stephen Hawking as quoted in Newsweek.
Well, since we are born curious, I'll modify your last sentence, Mr. Hawking: Don't stop being curious -- the universe is a fascinating place to keep you on your toes.
4
Beautiful tribute, thank you.
1
Even as I measured the magnitude of the black hole that will exist in our universe with Mr. Hawking's passing, I did not shed a tear. The past two days the cosmic presence he was stayed on my mind, though I am neither a mathematician nor a philosopher. I am pragmatic about man's end of life,...however, when I finished reading this tribute, my face was awash in tears. As an atheist, I do not believe in heaven but do concede to everlasting life...we live on by the ancient ritual of recounting the lives and activities of those whose lives have touched ours. Stephen will be eternal, but I do understand your grief, Mr. Mlondinow, and envy you your special relationship with this brilliant man. Thank you for sharing in spare but exquisite prose your love and sense of loss.
25
While I have nothing to do professionally with mathematics, physics or science of any kind, I avidly read "A Brief History of Time" and followed Hawking's works and writings with interest. He was a great scientist and humanist. I too cried when I heard he had passed away.
How do you comment on Stephen Hawing intelligently?
I struggled though " A Brief History of Time" and not surprisingly kept pace with Hawking right through Newtonian physics, right up to the point of particle physics and the Einstein model of gravity. At that point I had to just take what Hawking says on faith. Some of us are not suited to cosmic physics.
And that was part of Hawking's capture on those of us who admired him. WE did not know him personally - his preference for curry or his personal humor - but we recognized the brilliance necessary to not only think of the things he proved, but to have the stamina to communicate ideas so complex that written simply are still beyond the capacity of a lot of intelligent people.
5
Stephen Hawking was a remarkable man who showed with his life another example following the lessons of Penfield, Broca, Babinski and others in neuroanatomy. We learn greatly from an understanding of individual areas and functions of the neuraxis, particularly with uniquely damaged ones. Since the mid-19th century when an explosion drove an iron bar through the brain of Phineas Gage, such people have given us a window on what it is to be human.
Whether he had ALS or spinal muscular atrophy is immaterial. Stephen Hawking will go down in history as a transcendent genius showing us with his work and life how great a human can be without pettiness or complaints to drag him down. Now he rejoins the stardust from which we all arise.
10
STEPHEN, almost everybody never really knew you.
In 1993, for about 9 months, I was in Surrey County, as a postgrad in biology at the RHBNC in Egham. Your 1988 book A Brief History of Time, was in the campus bookstore, but it didn't cross my mind to buy it. That time thus, I was sleeping under the same stars and sky as you were (as in the beautiful song by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram!).
Now, I'm still struggling to read your books. Your short but entertaining, autobiography, My Brief History (2013), was all I've finished and understood. One evening in 2017, I stayed up late to watch Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of you in the movie A Theory of Everything.
Your passing comes right after that of another great scientist, Sir John Sulston, whose work (on the soil worm) is light-years closer to mine. This morning I mentioned to my undergrad Bio students here at the University of the Philippines (Diliman, QC) a bit about your work. I've emailed them article links to news articles about you. More than ever, the young need better role models.
Farewell, Sir John and Stephen, and thank you, gentlemen, for making the world a bit more understandable!
18
Stephen Hawking emerged as a global icon during my college years, and he's been with me as an inspiration since. His impact on humanity was immensely more basic than inspired gravitational theory. He taught many of us how to persevere in the teeth of a profound adversity that made our own challenges so insignificant by contrast.
32
I don't know if it matters a lot but there is serious uncertainty in relation to the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As far as I know Hawking never disclosed if he had more recent testing done which most likely would have disclosed that he did not have ALS but one of the variants of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This does not diminish his courage and fortitude but one wonders how the attribution of an ALS diagnosis to Hawking might affect patients who have definite ALS. False hope or desperation that survival for five decades a pipe dream. The majority view in my experience in the neuroscience community is that Hawking did not have ALS. It is rather surprising that none of the commentary in the past 48 hours have referenced the uncertainty in regard to the ALS diagnosis.
15
This is incredibly helpful. A dear friend, a literary scholar, recently died from ALS. Three years ago she was a vibrant woman in her mid-fifties. At the time of her death, she could not even more her eyeballs to trigger her eyegaze machine. Doctor Hawking's miraculous triumph over ALS seemed to obliquely give the impression that she had some somehow failed. Her spirit was somehow less than it might have been. Without lessening the extraordinary accomplishments and immense charm and sweep of Stephen Hawking, I think it would be helpful to many ALS sufferers and their loved ones to demystify his affliction.
7
Hawking certainly made valuable contributions in Astrophysics in the face of a debilitating disease. However, to call him a "Force of Nature" is disingenuous. He was very much a victim of it.
I wonder if there will be an autopsy, or if that would reveal anything.
1
I am physics-challenged and I am mystified by the short clip that ran on the news: He said the universe was created out of nothing by gravity alone. That is one of the mysteries that give me a headache, along with the other idea mentioned earlier, about the parallel universes.
I need a Science Channel program to crack open these ideas for me.
13
Believe me Rick, those of us who are physics-challenged as you claim you are can never in our lifetime wrap our brains around the mysteries Hawking seemed so comfortable with. My personal demon is the concept of infinity and infinite universes. I finally decided to let the Milky Way be the outermost boundary of my mind and have thus been able to focus on the little things my limited mental concepts can understand.
1
My wife and I were fortunate to see him from a distance during our stay in Cambridge in 1999. His nurse, or caregiver, was pushing his wheelchair to take him to his office. It is fascinating to read about him and his achievements.
2
Oh my goodness, such an amazing person and human being. What a joy it has been to live in the same times as this man. How many of the best adjectives can be used to describe him--all of them!
25
Stephen Hawking may have died, but he will never be gone. He built a bridge from the past to the future of scientific understanding that will always be here.
89
And, he was a fearless atheist.
4
Thank you for sharing your experience and insight on this remarkable individual. What a beautiful eulogy.
48
Unfortunately there goes his Nobel Prize. Robert Noyce of Intel would have gotten one for inventing the integrated circuit, but he died too soon also.
It looks like there won’t be another Nobel Prize for work with gravity. Quantum Gravity research is failing miserably.
4
To make such a statement, I would expect you to have provided some evidence or bone fides, like an advanced Astrophysics degree.
Failing miserably? That’s true until it’s not....
What a beautiful piece of writing about a beautiful man. And also what a great argument against this endless fast typing and dictating of verbiage. Maybe if we were all kept to six words a minute we'd be forced to actually think.
185
Thank you for sharing your experiences with this extraordinary man. His passing is a loss for all of us. His memory lives on.
27
"Proving people wrong turned out to be his strength — and his gift to all of us."
This sentence and this article poignantly remind of a long friendship between two other great minds--Einstein and Gödel. Many more people know who Einstein is than Gödel, but that did not stop Einstein from responding to a question of one of their colleagues at the Institute for Advanced Study, "why do you take lunch everyday with Gödel?" Einstein replied "because it is a privilege."
Gödel had proved at 29 that no system of logic complex enough to do the arithmetic of the whole numbers could be both consistent and complete. In other words, there will always be statements in a consistent system of arithmetic which will be neither provable nor disprovable. Gödel answered a question (proved people wrong) that neither Aristotle nor any subsequent logician even thought was worth asking. Gödel was far more than a logician. For Einstein's 70th birthday he gave him a completely new and independent solution to the equations of general relativity, which Einstein soon acknowledged as such, although he told Gödel he thought his solution was more likely to describe the universe correctly.
Einstein died first of stomach cancer. Gödel followed in a horrible death where he starved himself because his paranoia (which he struggled with for his whole life) convinced him that everyone was trying to poison him.
ALS, paranoia, whatever it may be cannot always destroy the human spirit.
43
Mr. Hawking has been a public figure for as long as I can remember, and as long as I have been interested in the world. Until I read this, I didn't realize that his speech was gone. I knew, of course, we all do, that he was physically disabled, but somehow hearing that he also couldn't pronounce the thoughts he had moved me beyond -- yes -- words. Thank you.
30
While listening to Pink Floyd one day a few years back, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Stephen Hawking’s trademark synthesizer voice in one of their songs. He had lended his voice back in 1994 for their song “Keep Talking”. So apt. Rest In Peace, Professor Stephen Hawking.
https://youtu.be/HJ7zbzJZsjs
1
Odd that one would think the Dr. Hawking would be embarrassed to be spoon fed, his disease is perhaps the most debilitating known to man. This man defied all odds - mind over matter - do not apologize for those who strive against adversity. It’s the coddled who need to apologize! An inspiration beyond measure. His name will join those of Einstein, Curie, Galileo, and Archimedes.
84
I admired his spirit as well as his brilliance in the world of physics. In spite of his challenging physical condition, he maintained a sense of humor, sometimes bordering on mischief. I liked his spunkiness.
35
Physicists searching for miracles in the form of other physicists is pretty miraculous in itself. Being stuck in a wheelchair is not the only torture for them.
6
Thank you for your work with Mr. Hawking.
14
Without fear.
Without limits.
Proof of the strength of the human spirit.
Good to remember when Trump is president.
41
Yes, AJ, in the time of Donald Trump, it's reassuring to know that, across the Big Pond, there once lived and excelled British scientists Stephen Hawking and Sir John Sulston (molecular biologist who worked out the genpme of the soil worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which led to the unraveling of the human genome). They died within a week!
2
It is great to get some insight into how Dr. Hawking worked with collaborators. I've always wondered how he worked on drafts of academic papers and books - did he dictate the equations to a collaborator, and who transcribed his thoughts onto the chalkboard in his office? This is a lovely tribute. My sympathies on the loss of a friend and colleague.
66
Stephen Hawkings is an everlasting reminder we can be more then what others think we can be if we are willing to belive enough in ourselves to make it so.
44
... and do the work to make it real....
14
Mr. Hawking's soaring sense of awe was transmitted so skillfully yet humbly through the "shell" Mr. Mlodinow accurately depicts. He was like a cosmic being filled with the genius of the cosmos that most of us could understand. How is it such divine comedy is possible? Godspeed Mr. Hawking and thank you.
39
Wonderful, Leonard Mlodinow! Thank you so much for this piece.
74
Perhaps the writer or a physicist reader can explain something concisely which I've never understood about physics. How can the universe "expand"? What was there before for it to expand into?
10
@HurryHarry
Space itself expanded. There was nothing (as far as physics has yet determined) to expand into because there was no "into" before the expansion. Time itself did not exist before the expansion began. That's why, from the observed evidence, the age of the Univese is 13.7 billion years.
21
Yes, scsmits, i understand this and have read this explanation many times before. I agree, but what i can't handle is the idea there was no space before the Big Bang. It just seems to be absolutely impossible. It's seems so weird or spooky or counter intuitive.
8
Think of it as the surface of a balloon being blown up, but only from the perspective of being on that surface.
3
In this chaotic world that grows ore dangerous and uncertain every day, the knowledge that people like Stephen Hawking rise above their own limitations and achieve great things is a touchstone of reassurance that there is always hope.
Rest in peace Mr. Hawking, and thank you for your gifts to us.
141
The world is a lesser place.
13
It's a good thing then that it's expanding!
5
You made me laugh. Thank you.
Humor is the OTHER strong force!
So sorry i misspelled Hawking's name in a comment i just submitted. And I was sober. That will change. A drink to Stephen Hawking.
39
Thank you for offering your particular personal perspective into this great man.
Stephen Hawking was an exemplar of the eternal universal virtue of humble humane empathy. His love of life in all of it's diverse mystery was awe inspiring. His willingness to share his insights into gravity, space -time and black holes with all of us in a manner that we could understand was a great gift. His flair for humor is comforting.
'To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again' Ancient Egyptian proverb
44
I was stunned, almost in disbelief, when I heard that Stephen Hawking passed away. But I take solace in knowing that in countless other parallel universes, he's still alive.
58
Ironic how a scientist perhaps ranking with Newton and Einstein had a life that proved the limits of science, outliving his sickness by 5 decades, as predicted by medical scientists. Many lessons to be learned by his insights and his spirit.
30
@SDG
No, his achievements do not rank with those of Newton and Einstein. Newton gave us three laws and a theory of gravitation that explained the motion of the planets. Einstein gave us a theory that explains neutron stars, black holes, and gravitation radiation in addition to the bending of space itself. Hawking, an important popularizer of science, gave us a property of black holes: radiation.
8
scsmits: Don't forget that Newton gave us calculus too--although Leibniz discovered it independently. Notice, by the way, that SDG didn't say Hawking's "achievements" ranked with those of Newton and Einstein; he said Hawking himself, as a "scientist", ranked with Newton and Einstein. What that precisely means, I can't tell, but it's not necessarily the same thing. Carl Sagan said that Newton's was the greatest scientific mind that ever lived. Was Sagan right? Who knows? It's no doubt true that much of Hawking's celebrity (among the public at large, at least) had to do with his remarkable coping with his infirmity, but it also seems pretty clear that he would have been quite notable anyway.
7
Mr. Mlodinow, you are a very fortunate human being to have the mind and the opportunity of working with Stephen Hawing. I believe you are blessed beyond human comprehension. Peace.
14
I worked on a project for Dr. Hawking as a senior at San Diego St. I was new to what I was doing and did not realize the diodes had directions built into them but managed to get all 16 diodes in a circuit to be in the correct direction. When we pointed out my luck to Hawking he said I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.
We have lost a great mind, but not before he helped us all so much!
96
What a honor to have known such a great individual. And what luck you had, he was right, the odds were against you.
6