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High Table at Cambridge with Stephen Hawking

Posted by Hemos on from the talking-with-mc-hawking dept.

bughunter writes "Accomplished astrophysicist and SF author Gregory Benford shares a personal account of his recent conversation with Stephen Hawking at Reason Online. As usual, Benford's style is engaging and informal, and this doesn't read like a typical interview. Although the article is short on jargon, Benford and Hawking share insights on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, as such minds are want to do. We even get a glimpse of Cambridge tunnel hacking. Of course, there's also a plug for Hawking's new book, The Universe in a Nutshell."

4 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. The Universe In a Nutshell by darthBear · · Score: 5, Funny

    but is it published by O'Reilly?

  2. Check Out The Hawkman by cybrpnk · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've never heard Hawking's musical efforts (I kid you not), now is the time. Check out www.mchawking.com and prepare to bust a gut laughing. This is not to be missed.

  3. Hawking, day to day by Jormundgard · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every so often I see Prof. Hawking in the CMS building while running between classes or eating lunch, always with a nurse or "graduate assistant" (more of a student nurse) nearby. Some days I tell myself that he doesn't look so bad, but other days I just can't bring myself to look at him. It's hard to read interviews with him where he seems so vibrant, with his grinning photograph usually nearby, and then jump to seeing him in person - immutable and motionless, and almost falling apart. It's almost like he's a completely different person.

  4. penrose's birthday party by everyplace · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only time I've been around Hawking in recent memory was at Penrose's 65th birthday party (wow, was that really 5 years ago already?). He seemed pleasant, and thanked Roger for the nice party at the end of the evening.

    I will have to agree with Taco's comments though on the fragility of his exterior, but at the same time I feel that it plays into the character that Hawking has become. I can only imagine what being forced to develop one's theories on the world for 30+ years can do to someone's perception of reality. Some of the ideas that Hawking has contributed to the math world couldn't have come from anyone else, and I wonder how much of a result this is from his condition.

    Now if only twistor theory would win over super string theory. But that's another issue.