I recently finished two books that I had no real intention to read, but thought they sounded interesting enough to get and lo and behold I found the subjects in them very interesting, even if somewhat over my head at times. I am talking about The Theory of Everything and The Universe in a Nutshell 
by Dr. Steven Hawking, the British theoretical physicist who is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. They already sound like fun reads, don’t they? To make it even more exciting, the first book, The Theory of Everything, is read by the author… and yes, I’m talking about THAT Dr. Steven Hawking!
The Theory of Everything is a collection of seven lectures delivered by Hawking in 1994 focusing on space-time vs. real or linear time, the formation of the universe, it’s continuing expansion, the theory of relativity as well as his bread and butter, black holes. It is an unauthorized publication (which I found out after I read it) and contains much of the information that formed the basis of Hawking’s 1988 best selling A Brief History of Time, which was on the London Times best sellers list for a record breaking 237 weeks. I’m no Steven Hawking but my math tells me that’s a long time… especially for a book like this. The Universe in a Nutshell, published in 2001 is generally considered a sequel to and has been written to update the public of developments since 1988.
I think I got more out of The Theory of Everything since a lot of Nutshell has similar, though updated information from Theory. I am not really going to say much else other than if you have ever thought of reading any of his work go for it. He tries to dumb it down enough for us simpletons to understand, and if you have never been inclined to read, study or think about anything even remotely like this, go to the library and you might be surprised. Both books did informed me of a few things I did not previously know. First, Hawking is a firm believer in a God and writes extensively on how all evidence points back to a singular event, the Big Bang, and how many scientists don’t like that since evidence strongly suggests that an outside force or influence caused it. Second, the boarder of a black hole is called the event horizon, something I may have known had I seen the movie by the same title. Third, for an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis stricken (Lou Gehrig’s disease) limey math nerd (and I say that in the most loving way possible), this guy is hilarious. Okay, so I learned a bit more too but I am going to leave it at that for now and revisit my last point, he really does have a good sense of humor and a positive outlook on life. At the very beginning of his first lecture in The Theory of Everything he apologizes to his students for his digitally synthesized voice’s “American” accent. He says it was designed by a friend of his who is an American and he hasn’t been able to deliver a lecture in “proper English” since.
Here is a sample of some more of Hawking’s Humor… not necessarily all from his books:
“Einstein was wrong when he said ‘God does not play dice.’ Considerations of black holes suggests, not only does God play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can’t be seen.”
“I have noticed that even people who claim that everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”
In response to a question about the accent of his voice synthesizer: “I find that American and Scandinavian accents work better with women.”
“Someone told me that each equation I included in my book would halve the sales. In the end, however, I did include one equation, Einstein’s famous E=mc2. I hope that will not scare off half of my potential readers.”
“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21(when he was diagnosed with ALS). Everything since then has been bonus.”
“To show this diagram properly I would need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could only manage a two dimensional screen.”
“Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.”
In response to a question about the accent of his voice synthesizer: “I find that American and Scandinavian accents work better with women.”
“Someone told me that each equation I included in my book would halve the sales. In the end, however, I did include one equation, Einstein’s famous E=mc2. I hope that will not scare off half of my potential readers.”
“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21(when he was diagnosed with ALS). Everything since then has been bonus.”
“To show this diagram properly I would need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could only manage a two dimensional screen.”
“Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.”
The link below is a pretty funny interview Dr. Hawking did about his appearance on The Simpsons
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3 comments:
Yes, we all like Dr. Steven Hawking!
Dr. Hawking's theory that micro black holes might evaporate is very important. If this theory is correct, and if the Large Hadron Collider creates a micro black hole as CERN predicts that it might, then the micro black hole will not destroy the planet!
However, some scientists believe that micro black holes might not evaporate, and they are very concerned...
“ …after 50 months the earth to a centimeter would have shrunk. It would be nothing more there, not only no more life, there but also the earth would be… a small black hole.
-Prof. Dr. Otto E. Rössler
“ … the scientists are fully aware that it is not a project without a grave risk to the life of the Earth.”
-Dr. Raj Baldev
Did you know that the LSAG (Large Hadron Collider Safety Assessment Group) agreed with us that cosmic rays will produce relativistic microblackholes, whereas the LHC will produce ’slow’ ones, with some that can be captured gravitationally, either by the earth, or by the Sun, so they orbit through our planet or the Sun?
The LSAG is also not assuming Hawking Radiation is valid in their new safety study.
I wonder how much time the world’s scientists will have to peer review and validate the new findings after they are released?
JTankers
LHCFacts.org
Correction to post above...
The LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) agreed with us that IF cosmic rays produce micro black holes, they will be relativistic and travel too fast to be captured by Earth's gravity, whereas IF LHC head-on particle collisions produces micro black holes they will be non-relativistic with some that can be captured gravitationally, either by the Earth, or by the Sun.
You would like the Ben Stein narrated documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is about how evidence for intelligent design is dismissed out of hand by the scientific establishment. Look for my forth coming review on the thing in me blogs.
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