Stephen Hawking "very ill"

[OX mkII]

Not looking good

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8008767.stm

[Governmentyard]

Fair play, he's not been in the best of shape for a few decades now. He's done well to get this far given what he's got and I'm hoping he sticks around somewhat longer and impresses us all even more.

When he does go, the average IQ of all humanity will drop by about 10.

[Public Hermit]

I barely understand a word of his science but we'll be a poorer species when he's gone.

Get well Professor Hawking.

[Cloudane]

Can only echo the above, it'll be a really sad day for the whole human race when he goes. He's not one in a million, more like one in a million billion.

[zip accident]

Can only echo the above, it'll be a really sad day for the whole human race when he goes. He's not one in a million, more like one in a million billion.

One in a billion will do. Probably one in a hundred million.

It's a good thing he's lasted this long, and it will be a sad day when he goes.

[TFO]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

[zip accident]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

Stupidity.

[Jimaroid]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

Stupidity.

Eh? I thought he was really clever?

[zip accident]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

Stupidity.

Eh? I thought he was really clever?

[Lester M Fong]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

There seem to be quite a lot of pages on the Internet saying he turned it down.

[sdetoni]

I barely understand a word of his science but we'll be a poorer species when he's gone.

Get well Professor Hawking.

Saw a doco on his science, very interesting. He managed bring about the idea of merging the very big (planets, people molecules etc) with the very small (electrons, sub-atomic particles) just on theory, then went on to prove it correct using black holes as the example. As matter goes into the event horizon of a blackhole , it separates (some of it for a short while?) into matter and antimatter. The matter is released as enegry/radiation (election), the antimatter (positron) is consumed by the blackhole. Over vast amounts of time the antimatter apparently reduces the mass/density of the black hole (I think I got at least some it right?).

String theory just warps the brain, I understand the idea of dimensions (we live in 3), but an extra 7 - 12? multiple universes, one dimension where gravity is king, another where electromagnetic energy is king (our universe), another where every thing is at the atomic level, another where we a just one of many bubbles of universi.

[Absolute_Zero]

I *think* you're talking about Hawking radiation...

That which is killing him is that which brought him celebrity... I doubt he'd be particularly well known otherwise.

[Public Hermit]

String theory just warps the brain, I understand the idea of dimensions (we live in 3), but an extra 7 - 12? multiple universes, one dimension where gravity is king, another where electromagnetic energy is king (our universe), another where every thing is at the atomic level, another where we a just one of many bubbles of universi.

Different versions of string theory require different dimensions.

Supposedly, M-Theory brings them all together but IIRC that needs 13 dimensions (doh, 11 dimensions it seems and the modern interpretation is that it's simply another type of string theory rather than something that brings them together).

I'm much more comfortable with something like evolutionary biology, but stuff like this is still fascinatingly befuddling.

[Absolute_Zero]

There's been a bit of a backwash against super string theory recently for lack of testable predictions. Ergo, no falsifiability. its chief weapon is mathematical elegance. Is that enough?

See "Not even wrong"

[RedOktober]

How the bloody hell has he never been knighted?

He can't kneel before the Queen. She's funny about that stuff.