Stephen Hawking

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

Sad to hear the news this morning that Stephen Hawking has passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge, aged 76.

Farewell to a great mind.

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

[Martin DowingParticipant @martindowing58466]

Perhaps the most famous physicist who did not get a Nobel prize.

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

I can’t say I understood much of what he achieved but to live with MND for over 50 years is truly amazing. His life and work is a testament to the human spirit.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

There's a good obituary by Roger Penrose that concentrates on his work rather than his disability:

**LINK**

An extraordinary man.

Rod

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

RIP Stephen Hawking, as one who has lost friends and family to MND we share the pain but honour the achievements.

Edited By KWIL on 14/03/2018 09:50:27

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I can't feel too sad – a long and productive life lived well in the face of real challenges.

Neil

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Another great scientist who did not get a Nobel prize is Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. She claims that her many later awards would not have been granted to a Laureate.

I claim to be one of the non-scientists who not only finished A Brief History of Time, but understood it..

Geoff

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

It's a sad day for science, and the human race. And it is remarkable that most people commenting today say that the man had a wonderful sense of humour.

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Surely his work will shine a light on generations to come. However, I will remember him for that beaming grin when NASA provided him an opportunity to experience weightlessness in 2007.

Rik

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 14/03/2018 12:40:52:

…

I claim to be one of the non-scientists who not only finished A Brief History of Time, but understood it..

Geoff

So did I – but that was a long time ago now….

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I have also read his book a brief history of time twice, the second time to make sure I understood it the first time.

May he rest in peace.

Martin P

[larry PhelanParticipant @larryphelan54019]

No more to add to that. May he rest in peace.

[Martin DowingParticipant @martindowing58466]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 14/03/2018 12:40:52:

Another great scientist who did not get a Nobel prize is Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. She claims that her many later awards would not have been granted to a Laureate.

I claim to be one of the non-scientists who not only finished A Brief History of Time, but understood it..

Geoff

She was done in.

These days giving Nobel Prizes to women was still seen as imprudent.

MCS got there much earlier but here there was no doubt – radium and polonium were purified largerly in home lab.

Hawking wes denied Nobel Prize most likely for a reson that predictions of his theories are unlikely to be verified by experiment. Ever. Hawking radiation of BH and other compact objects is so red shifted that unobservable by current or any imaginable future tech, unless very small BH are discovered.

Martin

Edited By Martin Dowing on 15/03/2018 17:50:38

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

In case anyone missed it: The great scientist lent his voice to the latest version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  **LINK**

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p060hy01

MichaelG.

P.S. … This may be of interest:

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/giving-hawking-a-voice

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 15/03/2018 21:03:52

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

I had missed that Michael, so thanks for that link. He also liked the Python Galaxy song –
**LINK**

and always with that cheeky smile. Much missed.
DaveD

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

dark matter and black hole
neutron stars
galaxies collide
you saw it all
now you join them

RIP Stephen Hawking.

[Anonymous]

Sad, but it comes to us all in the end. What an extraordinary guy; I wouldn't pretend to follow the mathematics even when written down. But he was reputed to manipulate the equations in his head. Not just a different league, but a whole different ball game.

I never spoke to him, but I used to see him quite regularly driving his wheelchair around in Cambridge in the early 1980s. In those days DAMTP was in a hodge-podge of buildings off Silver Street near what was the University Press building. I used to walk past it four times a day on my way back and forth from the engineering department to college.

A couple of nights ago I watched the 1980s Horizon program, on iPlayer, about SH and based on a seminar with some of his students. Right at the beginning I was startled to recognise one the students. He worked at the same company (Topexpress) as me in the late 1980s. I knew he was into cosmology but I didn't realise at the time he'd worked with SH.

Andrew

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

I'm sad and happy at the same time , sad because we have lost a truly brilliant mind but happy because he is now free of his prison. I feel privileged to have have lived in a time where he existed and now wonder if such brilliance can shine upon mankind again .

Never won the Nobel prize but declined a Knighthood so he probably didn't want the Nobel prize anyhow,.

The IQ in heaven just spiked .!

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Something I have wondered about, If One was blessed with a very generous IQ and had an affliction such as He had, has anyone ever turned Their efforts into solving their problems? Good at sums might translate into something else.

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

Posted by mark costello 1 on 17/03/2018 13:32:38:

Something I have wondered about, If One was blessed with a very generous IQ and had an affliction such as He had, has anyone ever turned Their efforts into solving their problems? Good at sums might translate into something else.

You're half way there.

He didn't win that Nobel for very real reasons. YES, he was a gifted mathematician, but most of the rest of it was PR.

Please don't get me wrong, I think the world is a better place for having had him in it, but he wasn't what most folk think he was.

[Author]

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