Tomorrow, a man who discovered at 21 that he had motor neurone disease, which usually means a few years' degeneration then death, will celebrate his 70th birthday as the world's most famous living scientist. The disease, amazingly, has never seemed much of a drawback for Stephen Hawking: in those first two years post-diagnosis, he went from being a "bright but lazy" student to a workaholic cosmologist.
The reason for Hawking's pre-eminent status today is, like his subject matter, multi-dimensional. His work in cosmology has changed the field: his ideas helped shape how scientists envisage the "inflation" of the early universe, black holes, and the quantum theory of gravity (which tries to unify the very tiny with the very vast). Some distinguished peers regard his work as worthy of a Nobel prize.
Yet there are many other brilliant scientists who do not achieve anything like as much fame. Over the last 10 years, in my work on science's place in society at the University of Bristol, I've seen the "Hawking factor" grow beyond anything I could have predicted. Cosmology, of course, stretches our imaginations deliciously, and Hawking's first book, A Brief History of Time, revealed beauties and mysteries of the universe, bending people's minds with ideas about the Big Bang and black holes. That was in 1988, well before the rise of the popular-science book, and he paved the way, soaring into the bestseller lists with over 10 million copies sold.
The imaginations of a surprisingly wide group of people were stirred: in Utah, a series of rock-climbing routes, named by a group of climbers in the early 90s, includes Expanding Universe, Occam's Razor and Event Horizon. But Hawking has got much deeper into different nation's psyches than by merely writing clear books about fascinating topics. His expertise across all media – presenting his own TV programmes, giving huge talks – means he has found a sweet spot in many cult followings.
In 1999, Hawking appeared on The Simpsons several times. He also played a hologram of himself in Star Trek, appeared in Red Dwarf, and his voice features in Pink Floyd's Division Bell album in 1994 (though not, as many assume, on Radiohead's OK Computer three years later). Meeting presidents and popes also contributed to the mystique of the man.
But above all, Hawking has won hearts through his sheer humanity – his humour, humility and courage. When he appeared on The Simpsons, true to its quirky humour, Homer calls him "the wheelchair guy", and inevitably, he gets pushed off a ledge (his wheelchair saves him by sprouting small helicopter-like wings). Some viewers must have been amazed that such a distinguished scientist was prepared to have himself depicted so disrespectfully. Yet Hawking told the New York Times the programme is "one of the cleverest shows on television, and it always has a moral".
This week, Hawking admitted that most of the day he thinks about women, who are, in his eyes, "a complete mystery". When asked about the pleasure of making new discoveries, he once said, "I wouldn't compare the joy of discovery to sex – but it does last longer." People have described him as an incorrigible flirt, and a party animal who delights in dancing in his wheelchair.
Hawking has also, of course, defied all the predictions about how his illness would debilitate him and shorten his life. He does not complain about the relentless difficulties that living with a degenerative illness brings, and what his life might have been. Rather, he relishes both his work and the sharing of it with millions of us. He has described this as a "glorious time to be alive and doing research in theoretical physics". For that we should celebrate him tomorrow.
Kathy Sykes is professor of sciences and society at the University of Bristol
Comments
6 January 2012 10:42PM
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6 January 2012 10:43PM
What can I say?
A really great human being.
Oh, and I do despise my fellow Christians who assert he is doomed to an eternity in hell because he has rejected Christianity.
NONSENSE!
You simply do not understand Jesus' teachings.
6 January 2012 10:50PM
Hawking is probably the most important human being since Einstien with incredible insight of the observable physical universe he will be always be known as the man who discovered black holes .
6 January 2012 10:55PM
Here I am , I am woman, a "complete mystery"(who also believes in God-wow we could have had some rows)
Good luck Steve,I really wish you well.
6 January 2012 11:09PM
I bet he'd be bloody surprised to hear that.
6 January 2012 11:23PM
So... why does he have a "great heart" again???
6 January 2012 11:30PM
@Kathy Sykes
Can you get back on the TV please? (I am getting sick of Brian Cox:-)
6 January 2012 11:33PM
And quite a few don't.
If he had not got motor neurone disease nobody at the Guardian would have heard of him.
6 January 2012 11:34PM
You despise your fellow Christians and believe that those who reject Christ aren't going to hell?
Perhaps you are not best placed to lecture others on the teachings of Jesus.
6 January 2012 11:37PM
You need it explained?
6 January 2012 11:38PM
Absolute unadulterated anti scientific bollox.
6 January 2012 11:49PM
If anybody knows there's no god, it's the pope. God never calls, never leaves a sign, never answers his prayers or even acknowledges ever getting them. Just as if he wasn't there, or anywhere. The other guy who knows there is no god has to be Stephen Hawking, not because of his terrible condition, but because he's too damn smart, and not remotely interested in magic or the supernatural, taking the best known route to understanding anything - the scientific route, of which he is now a master we can all learn from. Long may he continue.
6 January 2012 11:50PM
A reasonable (if somewhat cynical!) point - however, at the end of the day Hawking is a top-tier mathematician/physicist/cosmologist, who's written some excellent popular science books, and serves as a role model for overcoming physical disabilities. There's very little to dislike about him!
7 January 2012 12:07AM
I admire Stephen Hawking a lot, not only as world-class scientist who got me interested in physics as a kid, but also as a personal inspiration for not allowing himself to be defined or restrained by his illness and disability.
Having said that, I also really wish the media would stop giving him a mouthpiece to sound off on issues not related to his field and in which he is not an expert. And, of course, that he would stop making comments about things he knows little about (e.g. the "death of philosophy" - it wasn't clear to me that he understood what philosophy is, apparently confusing it with theology).
7 January 2012 12:21AM
Steven Hawking is one of those rare scientists who has been able to both conduct world-class research and enthuse the public about the nature of scientific discovery. Richard Feynman was another great scientist who was also an inspirational figure who wrote entertaining books on his life and career but produced some classic text books for undergraduate students "The Richard Feynman Lectures on Physics". Steven Hawking, however, has become part of the mainstream popular culture and has led to a new crop of scientists who are bringing science to the public. There is, of course, Brian Cox but Jim Al-Khalili has more gravitas for me and has produced a great series of documentaries for BBC4. Simon Shaffer has also produced an excellent series on the nature of light. I hope that you'll be back on our screens more often too Kathy. Anyway, happy birthday Steven Hawking!
7 January 2012 1:39AM
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7 January 2012 1:46AM
"Stephen Hawking has a great mind – and heart"
Agreed!
One of humanity's rare assets.
7 January 2012 1:56AM
There's very little to dislike about him!
A lot.
He left his wife, who married him knowing full well about his disease, have children, for his nurse.
Then he left that nurse turned wife for someone else.
He is Popular Science writer, invented nothing.
7 January 2012 2:09AM
A Brief History was awful. It was described as the "most bought least read" book of all time, little surprise. It's a dense, horribly-written book. I wouldn't doubt the brightness of the content - but the language is atrocious and serves only to obfuscate.
I sincerely doubt A Brief History has taught a single human about relativity or quantum mechanics. Plenty of people who were interested in them picked it up (and probably enjoyed it) but for a novice it's just impenetrable. The science part of it might be top-notch but the popularisation part of it is horrible.
It is possible to explain these concepts to a non-technical audience in clear language, Lawrence Krauss does the a fantastic job at it.
7 January 2012 2:20AM
You have a point. Despising a fellow human being is definitely not following the teachings of Jesus.
I'm ashamed to have expressed such a sentiment. I'm even more ashamed of the fact that I genuinely feel it.
7 January 2012 3:27AM
Scientists especially theortical ones discover not invent things. They invent means to discover new things.
People are rarely appreciated fully whilst alive.
7 January 2012 4:20AM
Yesterday I heard a Hawking quote that "before the big bang" is as meaningless a concept as "south of the South Pole". Thank you Stephen Hawking for enabling me to stand in awe before another little glimpse of reality.
Happy Birthday to you.
7 January 2012 5:03AM
If Transcendence were mysterious, might it be a women?
7 January 2012 5:10AM
Reaching 70 with such a hindered is a feat on its own, but we should recognize his intelligence regardless of his disability. We should ask ourselves would we buy his book if he was just another scientist?
7 January 2012 5:47AM
Science is a branch of philosophy. As you probably know, the word comes from the Greek and means "love of wisdom" or, in my own more modern personal interpretation, "the desire for truth".
That's why, in some countries, scientists still study for "PhD's" - doctorates of philosophy.
Therefore he is well credentialed for comment on the subject.
There is every possibility that, one far off day, scientists will discover something they will have to call 'God'.
Personaly, I see no conflict betwixt science and religion.
Again, in my own personal opinion, I think It's an enormous pity this view hasn't been shared more widely thoughout history. We might have avoided countless wars over which particular giant invisible friend in the sky was the most important.
7 January 2012 7:10AM
I first learned of Hawking in 1975 when, as a nine-year old, I was exhilerated by not only his ideas, but the way which his disability shaped his thinking. As I understand, he builds his ideas into three and four dimensional constructs which he then decodes into mathematics. This mental process is a by-product of his disease, but is also an expression of something inherent in him.
I suppose far fewer people have heard of Roger Penrose, Hawkings intellectual play-fellow, though he is certainly a well-known figure internationally by normal standards. Personally I credit Hawking, Kip Thorne, Penrose and, above all, Carl Sagan, for popularising physics (and thereby enriching my experience of life). And Hawking does still have the distinction of being the only person to successfully incorporate quantum mechanics with general relativity as he did in his explanation of Hawking Radiation.
Having overcome his disease certainly adds to his story, I think. If great accomplishments (whether Nobel worthy or not) in the face of great adversity isn't worth admiration I don't know what is. It is also worth bearing in mind that he need not be the greatest physicist in the world; he can just be one of the greatest physicists in the world and that should be high praise enough.
7 January 2012 9:48AM
Happy birthday, Stephen.
7 January 2012 10:06AM
Best comment on the thread.
7 January 2012 10:11AM
He's an amazing man. I can't even begin to understand the kind of courage and resilience he's shown over nearly 50 years.
Respect. And happy birthday too.
7 January 2012 10:28AM
What a great and realistic man, a sort of scientific Beethoven who came to terms with the real world (not to mention the real universe) despite his compromising disabilty.
7 January 2012 10:30AM
.....and long may he reign!
7 January 2012 10:49AM
I have to agree that, without the motor neurone disease, only other scientists and science nerds would ever have heard of Stephen Hawking. With it, he pushes a lot of cultural buttons - heroic disabled person, alien with robotic voice, Dr Strangelove. Basically, the man's a walking trope. It also helps that the world is full of rationalists/atheists who need heroes or heroines now they don't have a god.
He probably does have a great mind, but I was never very interested in cosmology anyway, so I'm hardly qualified to say. And as for a great heart - no more than lots of other people who live with chronic illness and aren't public figures.
Happy birthday, Professor.
7 January 2012 11:43AM
Except that the South Pole is an observable fact and the big bang isn't.... What reality are you living in?
7 January 2012 12:09PM
Aren't you forgetting to include the Chief Rabbi, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dalai Lama, the Sheikh of Al Azhar + the High Priests of Hinduism and Sikhism.
Or are you merely on the anti-Catholic bandwagon rant ?
7 January 2012 1:00PM
And I guess that if Hawking radiation was verified by experiment, he'd probably get one. Just like Higgs.
7 January 2012 1:02PM
He left his wife, who married him knowing full well about his disease, have children, for his nurse.
Then he left that nurse turned wife for someone else.
He is Popular Science writer, invented nothing.
.
A really nasty customer .
7 January 2012 1:14PM
Whhat makes you think it won't be?
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25805/
7 January 2012 1:16PM
There speaks a man whose entire knowledge of Stephen Hawking has been harvested from the pages of the tabloid press.
7 January 2012 1:25PM
Admirable sentiments but Stephen Hawking did not discover black holes. It was Karl Schwarzschild who, in 1916, proposed the solution to general relativity that included the black hole and Charles Thomas Bolton in 1972 who discovered the first actual candidate, Cygnus X-1.
7 January 2012 1:54PM
And the term "black hole" was coined by John Archibald Wheeler, for what it's worth. Anyway:
Bravo
7 January 2012 1:58PM
Wasn't his wife abusive to him?
Just sayin'.
7 January 2012 2:02PM
Erm, I'm afraid not. "Doctor of Philosophy" is just the title of the degree. The vast majority of PhD's aren't actually in philosophy, just as a "Bachelor of Arts" degree doesn't have to focus on painting and sculpture.
7 January 2012 2:11PM
Really? I doubt he'd claim any of that.
7 January 2012 2:14PM
Anyhow, this is a nice piece and makes up for the dreadful article on Hawking last week.
7 January 2012 2:50PM
Happy birthday, Stephen Hawking. Thank you for advancing knowledge through your scientific research and for communicating the discoveries of science to the public through your books.
7 January 2012 3:31PM
Referring to Stephen Hawking as 'a popular science writer' bears all the hallmarks of abject intellectual poverty and ignorance as referring to Albert Einstein as 'that funny T-shirt guy.'
Happy Birthday Stephen, long may you reign.
7 January 2012 4:37PM
Yeah, that's probably true. How many of them have heard of Roger Penrose, I wonder? Or even Richard Feynman?
Still, at least he's not Brian Cox.
7 January 2012 4:59PM
Hawking is indeed largely famous on account of his disability than his science. Like all successful scientists, he's had some good ideas, some not so good, but the public are not that interested in such matters; if they were Dirac would be a household name too.
I'm not that taken with his popularisation - the recent TV programme wasn't up to much in my view. I am more a fan of people like Jay Gould and Bronowski, who seemed to be able to look far more deeply into fields outside their specialism. And as Bronowski said, a genius is a man who has one good idea.
7 January 2012 5:26PM
This article is right, what a brilliant man.
Though I find some of his shows bring this stuff to life for the lay person, sometimes I need Brian Cox to show me how these theoretical physics ideas get used in the real world to produce hydrogen fuel, particle accelerators for hospital equipment and so on. Stephen Hawking sometimes just baffles me, my brain can't take it in!
7 January 2012 5:42PM
The discovery of the radiation by black holes ( the Hawking effect) is indeed a great scientific achievement... his singularity theorems are also impressive pieces of work... As of late however his work is, lets say, much less remarkable...
The book Brief History of time was awful... did not explain anything to a lay person who got away only mesmerized by what seemed like intractable ideas...
You want a good book popularization on the matter.. read Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind or his latter books... Shadows of the Mind or Road to Reality .
Any way he certainly desereves a Happy Birthday...