Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSAis an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set forth a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth8 January 1942
CityOxford, England
When I was young, Stephen Hawking wasn't the world's most famous physicist. The fame didn't arrive until the publication of "A Brief History of Time," by which time I was in my late teens. When I was a child, he was well known among physicists, but they are a fairly select, serious bunch, not much given to celebrity idolizing.
Think of our DNA. In the last million years, our DNA hasn't changed at all. It's really much the same as it was in the jungle, a million, two millions years ago. But in the last 200 years, our destructive capacities have increased many, many millions of times over. Why don't we see intelligent signals from outer space? Because in all likelihood, once the civilization reaches the point our civilization has reached, it destroys itself.
I'm really easy to get along with once you see it my way.
What lies north of the North Pole?
It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
I'd say I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid He might hear me.
If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would try to pass them.
Half the battle is just showing up.
Jesus loves you, but everyone else thinks you're an ass.
Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool.
The human race does not have a very good record of intelligent behavior.
Do you ever wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges?
There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition.
To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,