Stephen Hawking dies at age 76

[FelixDeCat]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17118570/stephen-hawking-dies

Stephen Hawking, perhaps the world’s best known scientist, has died, a spokesperson for his family has confirmed. He was 76.

“It is with great sadness we announce the death of Professor Stephen Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA at the age of 76,” the statement reads. “Professor Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of this morning. His family have kindly requested that they be given the time and privacy to mourn his passing, but they would like to thank everyone who has been by Professor Hawking’s side — and supported him — throughout his life.”

Hawking was born on January 8th, 1942 in Oxford, England. His best-known work included his collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularities, the prediction that black holes emit blackbody radiation, and the best-selling book A Brief History of Time. The book aimed to introduce key cosmological concepts to a non-specialist audience, and sold over 10 million copies in 20 years.

Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, or ALS, at the age of 21. The debilitating illness gradually paralyzed him, confining him to a wheelchair, and in 1985 a tracheotomy robbed him of his voice. But Hawking continued to be a hugely prominent and popular public figure through the use of his computer-aided speech system, which required painstaking operation by a single cheek muscle.

“My disabilities have not been a significant handicap in my field, which is theoretical physics. Indeed, they have helped me in a way,” Hawking once wrote, saying that his situation presented him with the time to clearly think through the problems of physics. And Hawking not only far outlived doctors' expectations, but climbed to the top of his field, becoming a major celebrity in the process. He appeared on The Simpsons and an Oscar-winning movie, The Theory of Everything, was made about a period of his life.

“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” Hawking’s children Lucy, Robert, and Tim said in a statement. “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 humor 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.”

Heaven has a new physicist.

 

[BoomerD]

I just saw that.

Well...he lived a LOT longer than he was ever expected to...but the world lost one of its great minds.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Just saw the sad news. The world is certainly a sadder place every time one of the most brilliant among us takes leave of it.

 

[Crono]

Madoka posted a thread but it got merged into the P&N one for some reason.

 

[JEDIYoda]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/14/17118570/stephen-hawking-dies



Heaven has a new physicist.

Probably not -- He made no claims to following God......

 

[Skunk-Works]

Another odd ball has passed. I never agreed with his politics at all or his religious beliefs.

 

[WelshBloke]

Another odd ball has passed. I never agreed with his politics at all or his religious beliefs.

I'm sure that the most intelligent man of his generation was most upset that you didn't agree with him.

 

[renz20003]

RIP sweet prince

 

[lxskllr]

One of the infinitesimally small group of people pushing humans forward. Had to happen at some point, but it still sucks :^(

 

[ch33zw1z]

Petty OP makes another petty thread to post petty remark. No surprise.

RIP Hawking.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Another odd ball has passed. I never agreed with his politics at all or his religious beliefs.

Which religious beliefs of his did you not agree with?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Did anyone tell Sheldon?

 

[SKORPI0]

RIP. And he died on Einstein's birthday .
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_hawking.html
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_hawking.html

 

[Cappuccino]

"I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first."


Stephen Hawking

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Hmmm, PI day...

 

[DigDog]

he truly was the best rapper

RIP MC Hawkings, you will be missed

 

[DigDog]

I'm sure that the most intelligent man of his generation was most upset that you didn't agree with him.

i think he was making a joke.

 

[ch33zw1z]

i think he was making a joke.

Haha, I dont think he was.

 

[zinfamous]

Heaven has a new physicist.

Not according to Hawking.

Why would you insult the man?

 

[effowe]

RIP

 

[FelixDeCat]

Not according to Hawking.

Why would you insult the man?

Calm your tits. He carried his cross. Let him RIP.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Humanity just collectively lost a bunch of IQ points. Much sadness.

 

[BudAshes]

Another odd ball has passed. I never agreed with his politics at all or his religious beliefs.

Heaven has a new physicist.

Calm your tits. He carried his cross. Let him RIP.

In honor of Hawking I present you two with a tall glass of STFU.

 

[dasherHampton]

I'm not smart enough to live in his world (at least I don't think I am).

I always respected him immensely. RIP

 

[snoopy7548]

Heard about it on the radio this morning. RIP.

I think this is appropriate, from Aaron Freeman:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4675953

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.