Goodbye, Stephen.

[day_trippr]

A great mind has left us. We're all poorer for it...

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Thanks for posting it, trippr. Was just about to do the same. A titan in many, many ways.

 

[mongoose33]

He finally passed the event horizon.

 

[Greytop]

Sorry to see him go. Glad we lived in the same time.

 

[JonM]

Brilliant mind with a sense of humor.

 

[passedpawn]

It was just a week or two ago (it seems) that he said he figured out the nature of the universe before the big bang. I read it and, of course, it sounded like gobbledy-gook to me.

Interesting he died on PI day (also albert einstein's birthday).

 

[BeerChemistWhiskey]

Although I've read some Carl Sagan and the like, I've somehow never read any of Hawking's books. I'm sure I am far from truely appreciating his contributions to science and society.

Amazon books, here I come...

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Although I've read some Carl Sagan and the like, I've somehow never read any of Hawking's books. I'm sure I am far from truely appreciating his contributions to science and society.

Last night my fiance asked me after she saw the news, "Did you ever read A Brief History of Time?"

"Yeah, hasn't everyone?"

 

[passedpawn]

Last night my fiance asked me after she saw the news, "Did you ever read A Brief History of Time?"

"Yeah, hasn't everyone?"

I read it (mostly on an airplane as I recall). None of it really sank in, but not because it's at a high level. Instead, it's a lot of analogies to help you understand topics that really aren't understandable to me (at least any part talking about he amorphic nature of time ). The astrophysics stuff, which is also what Sagan liked to talk about, is very interesting, but for these guys like Hawkins and Sagan, particle physics and warping time and light speed and big bang and expanding universe is all connected and the same subject.

Anyway, it's actually a pretty quick read, broken up into bite-size sections that are easily consumed. Do it. If you want to dig specifically into Einstein physics, Bertrand Russell is the guy to read. I used to have a paperback book by him that was really cool - made you believe you really understood relativity and how newtonian physics is replaced with something else when you plan on travelling near the speed of light. Trains and observers and loads more whacky analogies.

 

[JonM]

I heard the joke on NPR yesterday that A Brief History of Time is the most purchased, least read book in history. Gotta admit I'm guilty of that. I got through the first half but then kind of got lost. I'll have to dig it out and give it another shot.