Comments on: Stephen Hawking – A Biography

By: Lloyd Croad

Lloyd Croad — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:11:49 +0000

I just found out the other day that my daughter thought he was American, because of the accent of his voice synthesiser!

By: btw

btw — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:45:41 +0000

I liked the comment that he wrote one of the must successful lay-person books on the history of the universe, but in fact, most people just stuck it on the shelf.

By: Frank Glover

Frank Glover — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:31:14 +0000

"A genius indeed he is, but I wonder who first proposed what is now known as 'Hawking Radiation'?"

Um, that would be Hawking himself who first theorized that virtual par production that happens throughout all space, would occasionally force some particles to be 'real' at a black hole's event horizon, and appear to radiate from it, as its twin falls into the hole, decreasing its mass energy, eventually to nothing.

The process is inversely related to the hole's mass, increasing and radiating more strongly as it shrinks. A hole of stellar mass wold take many, many times the age of the Universe to evaporate. A hole with the mass of an asteroid, if formed at the Big Bang, would be disappearing right about now. And one with the mass of typical subatomic particles…well if you blinked, you missed it.

Steve worked this out when exploring how the laws of thermodynamics and quantum physics should apply to black holes, and the process was given his name.

By: dw

dw — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:00:12 +0000

boom-dee-yatta

By: Freiddie

Freiddie — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:24:24 +0000

Hawking Radiation is by Hawking, of course.

By: edunuke

edunuke — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:13:26 +0000

great scientist given his condition.

By: Huygens

Huygens — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:18:30 +0000

Another stunning "feat" in his life: He can barely move, yet he was able to divorce his first wife of 25 years and marry his nurse.

See, the so-called disabled aren't saint, they're just people, too. Hawking just happened to know a bit more science than most.

By: Sci-Fi Si

Sci-Fi Si — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:18:47 +0000

A genius indeed he is, but I wonder who first proposed what is now known as 'Hawking Radiation'?

He's had quite an amazing career and has truly made some great contributions to science.

By: Feenixx

Feenixx — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:16:00 +0000

Emission Nebula wonders:
"who theyll hire to replace him"

Brandon Carter, Jim Bardeen, Michio Kaku, Martin Rees, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Fraser Cain, Pamela Gay, AND the X-Men…..

By: Spoodle58

Spoodle58 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:50:50 +0000

Mark Mortimer says
"So, while this book encapsulates Hawking's life, it doesn’t add much to what's readily available. "

Are you saying we shouldn't buy the book Mark?

By: pmf71

pmf71 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:47:26 +0000

Stunning how a man who can physically do so little, had contributed so much to physics…

By: LLDIAZ

LLDIAZ — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:28:17 +0000

I hear that his stance on his work is impregnable once he has stated something as so, there's noone that can tell him different (arrogance/confidence you decide).
Maybe thats the way you have to be when facing so much criticism.

By: Emission Nebula

Emission Nebula — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:01:37 +0000

I wonder who theyll hire to replace him.

By: Sofia

Sofia — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:54:53 +0000

He is a great man and a great scientist !