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If he finds a creator after he dies, I hope he has a wonderful conversation about how the universe works. That's always how I imagined things might be if there were an afterlife. I could sit in the "universe library" and read until I understand it all.
Personally I think one of his more interesting contributions has been his theories on how the universe came to exist. A lot of other physicists agree in their own way, speculating on the existence of closed time-like curves which have the bizarre property that, as you move forwards in time, you eventually loop back to the time that you started (this is because space-time can be warped in certain ways - wormholes, for example - this is just another way). This can be interpreted in such a way that, the universe effectively 'created itself'.
His idea of 'imaginary time' was very similar, according to a documentary I watched on the subject. Anyway, all I can say is closed time-like curves are some really cool things.
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United Kingdom13774 Posts
My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus." - Stephen Hawking
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I'm all about everything this man stood for.
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Before his new modern wheelchair was developed, he was able to explain the beauty of the universe using hurr and durr. An inspiration to redditors everywhere.
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28057 Posts
Honestly I'm not even that sad. I'm happy that he completely outlived expectations considering his situation, and did so while accomplishing more in science than any of us could ever dream of. His philosophy on a lot of things outside of science has held a lot of weight as well. Truly inspirational.
RIP
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We are greater as a society for his life. Just wanted to share an anecdote from one of my Physics profs:
When my prof was doing his PhD, Hawking came to his university to give a talk. The university, knowing how high attendance was going to be, scheduled the talk in a theater. Unfortunately for Hawking though, the only way from the green room to the stage was up a set of stairs. So the university had to get some staff to lift Hawking from his chair, carry the chair up, then bring Hawking up to the chair. My old prof, as a grad student, got to meet Hawking beforehand, but, as a grad student, ran late. So as he gets there, he just sees Hawking silhouetted with a halo of stage light as he's being carried up the stairs. As an image, I can't think of a better one to remember Hawking.
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Relatively happy for his well-being. A greatly-respected and influential individual. I enjoyed his writings, especially the humor and condensed writings of his published works. Can't imagine many children getting by without Universe (in a Shell). See you later Hawking--you will be missed.
There are some anecdotes by his protege somewhere. The four-dimensional field mechanics are probably going to find their way into something Microsoft.
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