Stephen Hawking
Richard Dimery (rjd20@hermes.cam.ac.uk)
Mon, 19 May 1997 12:42:27 +0100 (BST)Good afternoon, everyone,
I've just been to a lecture by Professor Hawking here in Cambridge, at the
launch of the COSMOS supercomputer. It was a followup to his 1980
inaugural lecture, and was called, "Is the end finally in sight for
theoretical physics?" It was fairly disappointing in that he didn't say
much that was either new or controversial. He didn't even really answer
the question, I guess, but extended his prediction that there'd be found a
GUT within 20 years (originally made in 1980) - he still thinks it will,
but the 20 years starts now! He did make one comment, in reference to
competing cosmological theories. He said that of four popular ones, his
Inflationary model No Boundaries theory was the most elegant, and he's
sure Go must have chosen that one, because of its elegance. He just left
the statement hanging, and I couldn't tell whether or not he was being
sarcastic, since it's hard to tell with a voice synthesiser, but everybody
laughed anyway. It was an interesting, funny lecture. Hawking looked
remarkably well today; I often see him out for a "walk" because we live
nearby, but he was looking particularly healthy today.
Richard Dawkins is speaking on Thursday afternoon here. I can't believe he
could give a lecture without saying something objectionable, so I'll
report on it.
Richard Dimery,
HPS Department,
University of Cambridge, England.