However, as LiveScience previously reported , current observational evidence indicates that this is unlikely. Either way, we currently don't have observational tools to detect primordial black holes or to say whether they make up dark matter. One of the topics Hawking tinkered with toward the end of his life was the multiverse theory — the idea that our universe, with its beginning in the Big Bang, is just one of an infinite number of coexisting bubble universes.
Hawking wasn't happy with the suggestion, made by some scientists, that any ludicrous situation you can imagine must be happening right now somewhere in that infinite ensemble. So, in his very last paper in , Hawking sought, in his own words, to "try to tame the multiverse.
But as with any speculation concerning parallel universes, we have no idea if his ideas are right. And it seems unlikely that scientists will be able to test his idea any time soon. Surprising as it may sound, the laws of physics — as we understand them today — don't prohibit time travel.
The solutions to Einstein's equations of general relativity include " closed time-like curves ," which would effectively allow you to travel back into your own past. Hawking was bothered by this, because he felt that backward travel in time raised logical paradoxes that simply shouldn't be possible. So he suggested that some currently unknown law of physics prevents closed timelike curves from occurring — his so-called "chronology protection conjecture.
One of the questions cosmologists get asked most often is "what happened before the Big Bang? To all intents and purposes, time itself — as well as the universe and everything in it — began at the Big Bang.
It almost certainly falls in the "will never be resolved one way or the other" category. He said in a statement, "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming , nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers.
I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space. If there is such a thing as a rock-star scientist, Hawking embodied it. Other TV and movie appearances included:. In , Hawking showed off his humorous side on American television, making a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory. Playing himself on this popular comedy about a group of young, geeky scientists, Hawking brings the theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper Jim Parsons back to Earth after finding an error in his work.
Hawking earned kudos for this light-hearted effort. In November of , a film about the life of Hawking and Jane Wilde was released. The Theory of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and encompasses his early life and school days, his courtship and marriage to Wilde, the progression of his crippling disease and his scientific triumphs. In May , Hawking hosted and narrated Genius , a six-part television series which enlists volunteers to tackle scientific questions that have been asked throughout history.
Being an optimist, I think they will. In , Hawkings had participated in a trial of a new headband-styled device called the iBrain. The device is designed to "read" the wearer's thoughts by picking up "waves of electrical brain signals," which are then interpreted by a special algorithm, according to an article in The New York Times. This device could be a revolutionary aid to people with ALS.
In , Hawking, among other top scientists, spoke out about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence, or AI, calling for more research to be done on all of possible ramifications of AI. Their comments were inspired by the Johnny Depp film Transcendence , which features a clash between humanity and technology.
Hawking reiterated this stance while speaking at a technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in November Noting how AI could potentially make gains in wiping out poverty and disease, but could also lead to such theoretically destructive actions as the development of autonomous weapons, he said, "We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it.
In July , Hawking held a news conference in London to announce the launch of a project called Breakthrough Listen. Funded by Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner, Breakthrough Listen was created to devote more resources to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
An overwhelming demand for access promptly crashed the university server, though the document still fielded a staggering 60, views before the end of its first day online. On March 14, , Hawking finally died of ALS, the disease that was supposed to have killed him more than 50 years earlier. A family spokesman confirmed that the iconic scientist died at his home in Cambridge, England.
The news touched many in his field and beyond. Fellow theoretical physicist and author Lawrence Krauss tweeted: "A star just went out in the cosmos. We have lost an amazing human being. Hawking fought and tamed the cosmos bravely for 76 years and taught us all something important about what it truly means to celebrate about being human. Hawking's children followed with 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 humor inspired people across the world. Later in the month, it was announced that Hawking's ashes would be interred at Westminster Abbey in London, alongside other scientific luminaries like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. On May 2, , his final paper, titled "A smooth exit from eternal inflation? Submitted 10 days before his death, the new report, co-authored by Belgian physicist Thomas Hertog, disputes the idea that the universe will continue to expand.
We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.
Stephen Breyer is an associate justice for the U. Supreme Court, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton. James C. Maxwell was a 19th-century pioneer in chemistry and physics who articulated the idea of electromagnetism. At the time, when the still cooling afterglow of the Big Bang the cosmic microwave background radiation had only just been detected on the sky, other cosmologists had hoped for something less radical than the notion of an entire Universe emerging out of nothing.
Together, Hawking and Penrose showed the quest for gentler answers was hopeless. Black holes are the ultimate monster of general relativity. First conceived and named by John Wheeler, they are regions of space so dense that everything within their realm collapses to a single point — another example of a singularity. At the time, it seemed ridiculous that these gorgons of gravity should have anything to do with the delicate theory of quantum mechanics, designed to explain light and the orbits of electrons in atoms.
But Hawking showed otherwise. In fact, quantum theory completely changes the fate of black holes. It would take a black hole a very long time to evaporate in this way, but in its last moments Hawking said it would expire in a burst of energy equivalent to a million megaton hydrogen bombs.
A Nobel Prize would then have been a certainty. But the LHC has seen nothing yet. Having tackled single black holes, Hawking turned his attention to the Universe as a whole - the ultimate, inescapable gravitational container.
The expenses of being a scientist with ALS ran to round-the-clock nursing, assistants, hospital emergencies, specialized equipment, and complicated travel arrangements. When Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time , he bypassed the university presses so that he could earn a fatter advance; the higher his profile rose, the more financial support he found from foundations, millionaires, and universities.
Everyone had an opinion on how much of the book its purchasers had actually consumed and understood. A Brief History of Time won Hawking his financial security; the celebrity was a secondary effect. Certainly he reveled in his reputation, which offered a measure of immortality to an all-too-mortal body.
Hawking was displeased with the photo, and he wanted always to be known for his physics. But as the agent of his own fame, he recognized, pragmatically rather than cynically, that he could keep at his physics only if he shared himself with the public.
But all of this amply reflects the nature of science itself. The ideal never exists. Science is a human activity, beset like all other human activities by emotion, money, politics, strife—and, sometimes, devastating disease.
He is a senior reporter at Quartz. You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser and improve your visit to our site. Buy on Bookshop. Lidija Haas. Benjamin Kunkel.
0コメント