Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Stephen Hawking. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009.
Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of doctors. He began his university education at University College, Oxford, in October 1959 at the age of 17, where he received a first-class BA (Hons.) degree in physics. He began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in October 1962, where he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology in March 1966. In 1963, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually paralysed him over the decades. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.
Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a significant breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76, after living with motor neurone disease for more than 50 years.
Quantum physics tells us that no matter how thorough our observation of the present, the (unobserved) past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.
Longer Version:
Quantum physics tells us that no matter how thorough our observation of the present, the (unobserved) past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.
The universe, according to quantum physics, has no single past, or history. The fact that the past takes no definite form means that observations you make on a system in the present affect its past.
If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.
Considering the number of planets and stars that we know exist, it's extremely unlikely that we are the only form of evolved life.
We are all now connected by the internet, like neurons in a giant brain.
However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. Where there's life, there's hope.
Teamwork means never having to take all the blame yourself.
By 2600, the world population would be standing shoulder to shoulder and the electricity consumed would make the earth glow red-hot.
Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.
I have found far greater enthusiasm for science in America than here in Britain. There is more enthusiasm for everything in America.
There is nothing bigger or older than the universe.
I'm an atheist.
I believe there are no questions that science can't answer about a physical universe.
I want my books sold on airport bookstalls.
I'm never any good in the morning. It is only after four in the afternoon that I get going.
Although quantum mechanics has been around for nearly 70 years, it is still not generally understood or appreciated, even by those that use it to do calculations.
Children in backseats cause accidents. Accidents in backseats cause children.
I like physics, but I love cartoons.
Disability need not be an obstacle to success.
So some might imagine that I am an expert on time, although of course these days an expert is not necessarily a good thing to be.
The increase of disorder or entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.
Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.
The wise never marry, and when they marry they become otherwise.
One is always a long way from solving a problem until one actually has the answer.
When I hear of Schrödinger's cat, I reach for my pistol.
We think that life develops spontaneously on Earth, so it must be possible for life to develop on suitable planets elsewhere in the universe. But we don't know the probability that a planet develops life.
It is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God.
Half the battle is just showing up.
Science makes God unnecessary.
The Simpsons is the best thing on American television.
A society in which the individual feels responsible for his or her actions is more likely to work together and survive to spread its values.
I think the next century will be the century of complexity.
Equations are just the boring part of mathematics. I attempt to see things in terms of geometry.
I first had the idea of writing a popular book about the universe in 1982. My intention was partly to earn money to pay my daughter's school fees.
One could imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand.
Maybe my variety is due to bad absorption of vitamins.
To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.
If the government is covering up knowledge of aliens, they are doing a better job of it than they do at anything else.
We are only the temporary custodians of the particles which we are made of. They will go on to lead a future existence in the enormous universe that made them.
I've noticed that even people who believe in fate look both ways before crossing the street.
I don't believe that the ultimate theory will come by steady work along existing lines. We need something new. We can't predict what that will be or when we will find it because if we knew that, we would have found it already!
I'm really easy to get along with once you see it my way.
The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load.
Government works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur.
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Disability can be no handicap.
There are plenty of dead scientists I admire, but I can't think of any living ones. This is probably because it is only in retrospect that one can see who made the important contributions.
I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonizing other planets.
Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done. Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.
Teamwork... means never having to take all the blame yourself.
Though we feel we can choose what we do, our understanding of the molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets.
Longer Version:
Though we feel that we can choose what we do, our understanding of the molecular basis of biology shows that biological processes are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry and therefore are as determined as the orbits of the planets. Recent experiments in neuroscience support the view that it is our physical brain, following the known laws of science, that determines our actions, and not some agency that exists outside those laws. For example, a study of patients undergoing awake brain surgery found that by electrically stimulating the appropriate regions of the brain, one could create in the patient the desire to move the hand, arm, or foot, or to move the lips and talk. It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.
We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There's not much personal about the laws of physics.
Chaos, when left alone, tends to multiply.
The meaning in life is not out there but inbetween our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation.
When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and that there are lots of things you want to do.
I'm very interested in film making. It's telling a story, fiction or non-fiction. I have been filmed quite a lot. Contrary to popular belief, filming isn't glamorous. It can be wearingly repetitious, as the same shot is taken over and over again.
It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.
Don't be disabled in spirit as well as physically.
We don't let animals suffer, so why humans?
A picture is worth a thousand words...and uses up a thousand times the memory.
Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it.
Why do we remember the past, but not the future?
Hang in there, retirement is only thirty years away!
Now, radical forward thinking is offering hope for the future: Replacement body parts to order. A team of scientists in California believe that if you can design them on a computer, you should be able to print them out.
Then we shall... be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we would know the mind of God.
Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.
It is very important for young people keep their sense of wonder and keep asking why.
Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we're human, and our nature is to fly.
Bodies like the earth are not made to move on curved orbits by a force called gravity; instead, they follow the nearest thing to a straight path in a curved space, which is called a geodesic. A geodesic is the shortest (or longest) path between two nearby points.
It is tribute to how far we have come in theoretical physics that it now takes enormous machines and a great deal of money to perform experiments whose results we can not predict.
Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing.
Longer Version:
Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.
Of course it is possible that UFO's really do contain aliens as many people believe, and the government is hushing it up.
The progress of the human race in understanding the universe has established a small corner of order in an increasingly disordered universe.
Over a very small number of rolls of the dice, the uncertainty principle is very important.
In effect, we have redefined the task of science to be the discovery of laws that will enable us to predict events up to the limits set by the uncertainty principle.
At times, I get very lonely because people are afraid to talk to me or don't wait for me to write a response. I'm shy and tongue-tied at times. I find it difficult to talk to people who I don't know.
There should be a better way to start a day than waking up every morning.
In the last 200 years the population of our planet has grown exponentially, at a rate of 1.9% per year. If it continued at this rate, with the population doubling every 40 years, by 2600 we would all be standing literally shoulder to shoulder.
Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this.
What place, then, for a creator?
Science fiction can be exciting and very gripping, but it doesn't tell us anything about the universe in which we live.
The human capacity for guilt is such that people can always find ways to blame themselves.
So great a contribution to physics was Two New Sciences that scholars have long maintained that the book anticipated Isaac Newton's laws of motion.
The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.
If we ever do find a complete theory of the universe, it would be a great triumph of human reason but it wouldn't leave much for us to do. We need an intellectual challenge.
I don't care much for equations myself. This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don't have an intuitive feeling for equations.
Maxwell is the physicist's physicist.
Only in the few universes that are like ours would intelligent beings develop and ask the question: Why is the universe the way we see it? The answer is then simple: If it had been any different, we would not be here!
There is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap.
Longer Version:
There is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap. But the difference is that once you've made the intuitive leap you have to justify it by filling in the intermediate steps. N my case, it often happens that I have an idea, but then I try to fill in the intermediate steps and find that they don't work, so I have to give it up.
Quotes by Stephen Hawking are featured in:
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Hope Quotes
Silence Quotes
Simplicity Quotes
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