15 March 2018 - Stephen Hawking Dies at 76
Stephen Hawking’s Beautiful Mind
Dennis Overbye (The New York Times, 14/03/2018)
Stephen Hawking spent his scientific life exploring some of the deepest questions a human caught in the Einsteinian opera of space and time could ask.
Although Einstein himself never really accepted it, his general theory of relativity predicted that if enough mass or energy were concentrated at one point, space would sag like mattress and eventually close itself off, creating a black hole from which nothing, not even light, could ever escape.
It would be Dr. Hawking’s fate to explore these imagined monsters and ask what their presence portends for the universe, and for those of us who live inside it.
'We still don’t have the technology to verify Stephen Hawking's big ideas'
Maggie Aderin-Pocock (The Guardian, 14/03/2018)
To my mind, Stephen Hawking’s legacy is twofold: he was both a brilliant scientist who came up with some of the most revolutionary ideas of our time and a great communicator who managed to carry the world with him on a remarkable scientific journey. He got people across the world talking and thinking about complex science.
Some of his early work was linked to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which takes space and time and squashes them together to make what we call a spacetime. If you look at the universe this way you see all sorts of strange phenomena, including black holes. Before Stephen’s work it was thought that nothing could escape a black hole, but his theoretical work led to the theory of Hawking radiation, which allows some radiation to leak from a black hole, enabling them to slowly decay and eventually evaporate.
Hawking: Did he change views on disability?
James Gallagher (BBC News, 14/03/2018)
Stephen Hawking was both one of the world's most famous scientists and most famous disabled people.
His life was a juxtaposition of sparkling intellect and failing body.
Prof Hawking was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease when he was 22.
Tributes pour in for Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist who died at age 76
Alan Duffy, Alice Gorman, Jonti Horner, Lisa Harvey-Smith, Matthew Bailes, Steven Tingay (The Conversation, 14/03/2018)
Acclaimed British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author Stephen Hawking has died aged 76. Hawking is best known for his work on black holes, which revolutionised our understanding of the universe.
Hawking passed away today peacefully at his home in Cambridge, his family confirmed in a statement:
We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years.
His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. He once said, “It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.” We will miss him forever.