Like many here he was an inspiration for me too, I read his books at an early age and along with others it got me inspired to pursue scientific studies. It also helped me come to terms with the fear of death and eventually see the odds of sentient life and appreciate the ride without the egotistic entitled feeling that sparks that fear in the first place.Rip Stephen.
Stephen Hawking has died
211–220 of 468 posts
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#212Oddly, this news struck me harder than other recent deaths of celebrity musicians that I was huge fans of. I guess Professor Hawking always had that aura of timelessness around him, and everyone just knew he was doing important work that would change humanity's understanding of the universe and our place in it. It seems somehow unfair to have him taken away in the middle of all that. EDIT: Fond memories of walking ar…
You're quite right. I saw him once, giving a supervision in the Core of the Centre for Mathematical Studies. He walked among us ;)
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?
'A short history of nearly everything' is extremely readable. Written by a comedic writer. It surveys much of scientific knowledge roughly narrated as a history of scientific discovery and the development of science. 'Elegant universe' is a little denser. It's about as accessible as string theory gets, and that's surprisingly accessible. It also surveys a lot of scientific knowledge. For example, it has a very intuit…
> 'A short history of nearly everything' is extremely readable. Written by a comedic writer.
Bill Bryson normally writes travel books, so the way this book is written is not your standard science approach. This book in particular is very entertaining since the topic is out of the authors comfort zone.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is actually my favourite book to read while travelling, funnily enough.
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#214Hawking's reputation will last as long after his death as that of Sagan, Gould, Boaz, Lysenko, Morris or any of the other popular culture performing cranks of this century. About ten minutes.
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#215This warrants the black bar. He has changed everything for humanity time and again. We owe him the best future we can possibly make.
I agree.
I consider no black bar:
- a violation of the principle of least surprise
- a statement of discrimination
Precedent has been set by the fact that it has been used in the past.
If its usage is being wound down, I reckon this more than qualifies as exceptionally justifiable.
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, two-way communication, sure. But his words and ideas will continue to be communicated for a very long time. He is one of the very rare human beings whose names will never be forgotten.
Arguably he's probably there with Newton, Sagan, Darwin and Einstein
I guess that a man that was self-declared atheist would not appreciate the religious concept of "all good people go to heaven when die". I can understand that is a comforting social convention in any case.
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reads like a pre-prepared obituary. No additional information regarding his death.
Pre-prepared is exactly how most obituaries are written. Newspapers keep such pre-prepared obituaries of famous people on-hand so that they can publish them instantly if that person happens to die. Any newspapers who don't do this will lose the all-important race for publication to newspapers that do.
> Pre-prepared is exactly how most obituaries are written
They are often written many years in advance. As an example, the Guardian's obituary for Billy Graham [1] was published ten years after its writer died.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/21/billy-graham-o...
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let’s please honor the man and not link to her wretchedness. Steven Hawking hated Thatcher and regretted never having the chance to run over her toes[0] [0] “Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind,” page 91.
It seems his spent his final days fighting her legacy - a backdoor attempt at privatisation in the NHS by her party. Thatcher should never be mentioned in a thread dedicated to his legacy. He wouldn't have got this far if she had her way.
Stephen Hawkings stance on the NHS is an important part of his legacy. Any time there has been moves to further privatise he has always came out against it, and it has been hard for the government to argue against him
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#219A truly sad day for us all. He was a person who showed us that we can do amazing things even when we're up against debilitating diseases. He was an inspirational person who is up there with the greats and will be remembered for eons to come.
Re: Stephen Hawking has died
#220For a second I just couldn't believe this was real. Stephen Hawking was one of those people that inspired me towards a career in science, as well as a pursuit of discovering what mysteries of the universe I could uncover within my (cosmically short) lifetime. He did this not through some major life-altering speech I heard from him (although his talks and lectures were quite interesting), or through some grand quote t…
That's an awesome eulogy. I tried to describe to my son this morning the kind of man Stephen Hawking was and struggled - I wish I had read this first!