Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stephen Hawking has died

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 468 posts

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#261

Post by nbdev »

Not one negative comment in this whole thread. Everyone is enamoured with Hawking, huh? Ask the women in his life what they thought of him. Ask the scientists, including Peter Higgs, who complained about his undue credibility and attention given to him.

Disagree with me? Think I'm speaking negative about the dead? If you call yourself inspired by a scientist, admiring a scientist, then you should seek the truth. Emotion based on truth I can stand, but the outpouring in this thread is ridiculous.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#262

Post by trentmb »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

Susskinds "Theoretical Minimum" series of books is quite readable.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#263

Post by ainiriand »

nbdev wrote: post #261

Not one negative comment in this whole thread. Everyone is enamoured with Hawking, huh? Ask the women in his life what they thought of him. Ask the scientists, including Peter Higgs, who complained about his undue credibility and attention given to him. Disagree with me? Think I'm speaking negative about the dead? If you call yourself inspired by a scientist, admiring a scientist, then you should seek the truth. Emot…

You have to be really funny at parties.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#265

Post by ridiculous_fish »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

Feynmann's "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" is a popular science book which contains a small amount of approachable mathematics. It's a good choice if you want something a little more meaty.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#266

Post by ra88it »

troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

A Brief History of Time changed my life too. My dad gave it to me when I was about 13 years old. It taught me 2 big things that I had not yet realized:

1) That science was graspable, even by me, given enough time to reflect (and a good teacher helps).

2) That science requires sparks of creativity, in addition to all of its methodology, and that being a scientist can involve being creative.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#267

Post by nbdev »

ainiriand wrote: post #263
nbdev wrote: post #261

Not one negative comment in this whole thread. Everyone is enamoured with Hawking, huh? Ask the women in his life what they thought of him. Ask the scientists, including Peter Higgs, who complained about his undue credibility and attention given to him. Disagree with me? Think I'm speaking negative about the dead? If you call yourself inspired by a scientist, admiring a scientist, then you should seek the truth. Emot…

You have to be really funny at parties.

I'm being honest, and you're not providing anything that goes against what I wrote.

No comment about how interesting or entertaining your reply is.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#268

Post by drawkbox »

Sometimes the RNG of the Universe creates people with intelligence, innovation and insight that are one in a billion that make the world better than it was before in immense ways, Stephen Hawking is one of those mountain movers.

People like Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Nikola Tesla and even Elon Musk today, that make us look up, innovate and think way out there, bring us together and remind us we are all on this planet together and can do amazing things if we choose to put our energy towards it.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#269

Post by pvaldes »

vixen99 wrote: post #204
racl101 wrote: post #75

Talk about beating the odds. He showed ALS who's boss! He demonstrated that when you have a purpose and the will to live one can overcome their limitations. He inspired me and countless of others. R.I.P. Dr. Hawking.

I absolutely back what you say about Hawking but having a lot of money and a team of dedicated medical specialists at your disposal does help. Let's have a moment's thought for the non-public figure ALS sufferers who don't have those resources available nor a huge number of well-wishers across the world to keep up their spirits.

Is an horrible disease and we must understand, crush and defeat it as soon as possible.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#270

Post by Insanity »

May he rest in peace. As a kid, I loved reading "a brief history of time". To me, both Hawking and RFP have been influential in discovering my passion for the sciences. A great loss for sure, but at a beautiful age, especially considering ALS.
Post reply on HN