The first time I saw professor Stephen Hawking, his was in a poker game with Albert Einstein, a curmudgeonly Sir Issac Newton and a gold-skinned android named Data — the three greatest minds in physics versus an anthropomorphic computer containing all 24th century knowledge in the known universe.
The scene begins with Hawking cracking a joke about the inertia of two planets relative to the curvature of space-time — his humor was a tad dry. Data tries to explain the joke to an early 18th century Newton, who reminds the android he created the topic of physics the day the apple fell on his head. Hawking quickly retorts with a grin, “not the apple story again.”
Hawking raises $50, Data and Newton fold and a kiddish Einstein calls what he thinks is Hawking’s bluff, but this wasn’t a joke. A robotic arm lays Hawking’s cards to reveal four 7s.
I was 8-years-old when I saw that episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” I had no idea who the man in the wheelchair cracking jokes about gravity was, but despite his physical disability, his control of through and exuberance about science pulled me in.
This week, we lost one of the greatest scientific minds in history. Hawking, theoretical physicist and Director of Research at the Centre of Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge in England, died Tuesday at the age of 76 of complications to Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS. He survived with the condition more than 40 years longer than doctors predicted, and he did not waste a single moment of those extra years.
Hawking’s science was focused on the cosmos. He theorized that black holes are not actually black and are not a one-way vortex to oblivion, but actually eject material. His theories on gravity and space-time rival that of Newton and Einstein. But his contributions to science were rivaled in his own life only by his ambassadorship of science.
Hawking’s place in pop culture is matched by few of his contemporaries — Neal Degrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan to name two. He used his near rock star status to advocate for scientific literacy and encouragement of curiosity in our natural universe. Besides a guest spot on Star Trek — his favorite television show — Hawking was featured on “The Simpsons,” “Big Bang Theory” and his many of his own TV series on time and space.
One of his ultimate goals was to go into space himself. Space travel is something Hawking thought is vital to the survival of humanity’s future. I’m sad he did not realize that dream.
Looking back on the episode of Star Trek, perhaps there’s a bit of irony in Hawking playing cards with an human-like android. In his final years, Hawking openly expressed his fears about the rapid development of artificial intelligence and that a self-aware machine that exceeded human capabilities could one day decide there was no longer a need for humanity — a thought that gives me pause coming from a man who was usually correct in his theories.
We’ve lost a true giant of humanity, and it’s hard not to mourn. But Hawking was a scientist who questioned the more supernatural explanations for the genesis of the universe. He did not think belief was necessary because he pursed fact. Hawking may not have been religious, but one could argue the way he looked at existence was still, in his own way, spiritual. Hawking said:
“We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.”
Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com