Stephen Hawking Dies

That dude was one intelligent mofo. I think part of him living so long when the odds were stacked against him, was because his mind was always so active.
 
Ahhh, sad day. One of the great minds of our time. RIP Mr Hawking
 
As a non-mathematician, I really appreciated the way he explained his concepts in his most popular books. My first exposure to his work was during a college course (mostly related to Newton) which had "On the Shoulders of Giants" as a required book. I found it easy-enough to read, as well as some of his other works like A Brief History of Time. Those texts were certainly a lot easier to parse than trying to cipher Newton's Principia Mathematica by a long shot, lol.
 
I had a feeling this was coming soon, but it's still a shock. He was definitely one of my (very few) heroes. And to survive 53 years after an ALS diagnosis... must be a record, or close to one.

RIP Professor Hawking... :( :(
 
Physics was one of the two classes where I walked into a midterm exam cold, didn't realize it was happening and hadn't studied at all. Got a B on that one and an A on the other.

Hawking had a mild case of ALS. Lou Gehrig lasted two years. So did my sister.
 
Not to take away from his accomplishments, which I respect, but his book “A Brief History of Time” is considered the most popular unread book ever.

I have to admit I am one of the guilty. I bought his book a long time ago, I’ve never read it.

Maybe now’s the time.
 
I've found that one of the most not well known thing about Stephen Hawking among Americans, is that he wasn't American.
 
I loved Hawking in Monty Python. Keeping a great sense of humor through it all. Try reading Feynman also. Another amazing mind plus a prankster.
 
steingar said:
Physics was one of the two classes where I walked into a midterm exam cold, didn't realize it was happening and hadn't studied at all. Got a B on that one and an A on the other.

Hawking had a mild case of ALS. Lou Gehrig lasted two years. So did my sister.
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He had a slowly progressing case, apparently, but I've never heard of a "mild" case. True ALS is 100% fatal, sooner or later. It's been speculated that the reason he survived so long had more to do with getting the best supportive care available anywhere, rather than anything about the specific nature of his disease. Probably it was some of both.
 
A short vingette....I may have told this before on POA, but definitely appropriate today. Back in the early 90s I was at JPL on a NASA Fellowship. Part of the deal was full privs at CalTech (which owns and runs JPL for NASA). The movie "A Brief History of Time" premiered at CalTech and Hawking, of course, attended as the most honored guest. A day or so before the premiere, Hawking went on a tour of the Star Trek sets at Paramount.

Note: This has been reported many times in the media. What comes next....well, while at JPL, I know a few of the tech folks on ST:TNG because we were all involved with computer graphics and would see each other at various conferences and meetings. So altho I wasn't there at the lot, I have complete confidence this is true:

When Hawking was shown the Engineering set with the warp drive, his comment was "I'm working on that". Needless to say, everyone around was not only dumbfounded, but also realized Hawking wasn't kidding. Then comes the offer to be in the episode being filmed. The script was hastily rewritten for the now Famous Poker Game.
 
I think this is a GodWink. Besides dying on Pi day, 3/14, it's Einstein's birthday and he was born on Galileo's death anniversary.

"Hawking's birth and passing align with the most important names in science. He was born on January 8, 1942, the 300th anniversary of the death of famed astronomer Galileo.

Hawking passed on March 14, the same day fellow theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was born."​
 
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paflyer said:
That's "Dr" Hawking. He didn't go to evil Physics school for 8 years to be called 'Mister' thankyouverymuch.
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Right. Now if he had gone to medical school and specialized in surgery... (given that he was British ;))
 
When I was in high school, I was taught (by multiple teachers) that Hawking’s ALS was a direct punishment by God for trying to lead people away from creationism.

Fun times (1980s).
 
deonb said:
When I was in high school, I was taught (by multiple teachers) that Hawking’s ALS was a direct punishment by God for trying to lead people away from creationism.

Fun times (1980s).
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What denomination church... err... school was that?
 
deonb said:
When I was in high school, I was taught (by multiple teachers) that Hawking’s ALS was a direct punishment by God for trying to lead people away from creationism.

Fun times (1980s).
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The irony in that is that, had it not been for the ALS, Hawking probably would not have been nearly as well known nor his writing as popular. How many other physicists can the average layman name? Even Nobel winners (which Hawking wasn't) aren't public figures.
 
deonb said:
When I was in high school, I was taught (by multiple teachers) that Hawking’s ALS was a direct punishment by God for trying to lead people away from creationism.

Fun times (1980s).
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It makes me sad to think there are people who think this way in my country. It makes me utterly bat**** paranoid to know that some of them run things.
 
steingar said:
It makes me sad to think there are people who think this way in my country. It makes me utterly bat**** paranoid to know that some of them run things.
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It saddens me, too. Horribly arrogant attitude, and horribly wrong Christian teaching.

Those of us who profess Christianity have an obligation to understand what Christ taught, and this attitude completely ignores Jesus' statement about those who were killed at the Tower of Siloam. Bad things happen in this world to all people; it's very misguided to attribute them to God's direct punishment.

Luke 13 1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
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Half Fast said:
The irony in that is that, had it not been for the ALS, Hawking probably would not have been nearly as well known nor his writing as popular. How many other physicists can the average layman name? Even Nobel winners (which Hawking wasn't) aren't public figures.
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True story. I'd love to see what the world would be like if we treated physicists/scientists/etc. with the same adoration and compensation that pro-athletes get. We'd have solved all sorts of the universe's questions by now!
 
Half Fast said:
It saddens me, too. Horribly arrogant attitude, and horribly wrong Christian teaching.

Those of us who profess Christianity have an obligation to understand what Christ taught, and this attitude completely ignores Jesus' statement about those who were killed at the Tower of Siloam. Bad things happen in this world to all people; it's very misguided to attribute them to God's direct punishment.
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Uh-oh... :( :(

IBTL
 
All that aside, I'm sure it will be an interesting conversation when Hawking meets GOD.
 
steingar said:
It makes me sad to think there are people who think this way in my country. It makes me utterly bat**** paranoid to know that some of them run things.
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It's also rather ironic, because although Hawking was an atheist, he was also an early proponent of the Big Bang theory, even before Penzias and Wilson discovered the CMB. (The BBT, of course, has been also used by some creationists to bolster their arguments for the existence of a Creator.)
 
steingar said:
It makes me sad to think there are people who think this way in my country. It makes me utterly bat**** paranoid to know that some of them run things.
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Makes me paranoid that there are people running things who believe they are not accountable.
 
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