Illuminati-R-Us

Dead at 76.

A brief life in time and space.

I admit I am stricken, and I am all the more impresses at what kind of life he managed to get out of this terrible disease.

Was his life short? He lived for 2.4 times ten to the 9 seconds. The current age of the Universe only about 5 times ten to the 9 times as long, but his life is more than 10 to the 52 times as long as a Planck time. So in a sense, he and we alle live "almost" as long as the Universe so gar.

R.I.P., Professor. It'll be a long time.

sigh

damn it

Wow - didn't realise he was in his mid-70s.

What a remarkable legacy he leaves.

It's cool that he was born on the date of Galileo's death, the 8th of January, and died on the date of Albert Einstein's birth, the 14th of March.

Some great stories about him coming out, like this, spotted on twitter.


Hawking story was doing rounds at Newsnight. Producer left in room setting up for interview. Pulled out lead for light and Hawkins slumped forward in chair like disconnected something vital. Producer runs for help, returns to room to find Hawking chuckling. #RIPStephenHawking

A few words from of farewell the man himself:

I appreciated that he had a sense of humor about himself, appearing as a guest on Family Guy, Big Bang Theory, and other places.

I was just wondering who the less famous person to die today would be, who everybody would overlook (but if they'd died yesterday would have featured prominently). Who would be the Farrah Fawcett to his Michael Jackson.

It's Jim Bowen.

He and Einstein died on Pi Day? It's no December 1st or January 12th, but still fitting.

Edit: Or, as the case may be, just Hawking. Still pretty cool that Einstein was born on Pi day, though.

Edited to add: I love this headline from the Onion -

Entire Life Of Universe Flashes Before Stephen Hawking’s Eyes

Colleagues remembering him:

This narrator is irritating to listen to because of his obvious discomfort with the sound of his own pronunciation and enunciation*, but the topic is quite interesting

* The irony is that in learning to use a voice synthesiser and adopt a computer generated vocalisation, Stephen Hawking overcame such inhibitions and was able to develop and articulate his thoughts in a more considered manner (which tends to happen when writing ideas down, rather than speaking off the cuff)