Stephen Hawking was many things. He was a famous cosmologist and difference between stability and eroticism estheran activist who changed the world's perception of what a scientist could be.
Perhaps more than anything else, Hawking, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76, saw us for exactly what we, as humans, really are.
"We are just a slightly advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet orbiting an average star," Hawking told Der Spiegelin 1988. "But we can understand the universe, and that makes us something very special."
SEE ALSO: Stephen Hawking hosted a party for time travelers, but no one cameHe was right. Our ability to interrogate our universe and try to understand our place within it is exactly what makes us special.
Because in most other ways, we aren't remarkable at all.
At the end of the day, the truth is that we're a species that evolved on a distant rock orbiting a not-so-special sun. The only real reason it's special is because it's ours.
And yet, we're made out of the same stuff as the rest of the universe. The elements that comprise our bodies are the same ones born in the bellies of exploding stars since the dawn of time. But somehow, we've developed the ability to interrogate ourselves and our universe.
Via GiphyHawking spent his whole life attempting to show all of us why we're special within the grand fabric of the cosmos. His life's work focused on trying to explain the most extreme goings-on in our universe.
His theories transformed the way we understand black holes by developing the theory that came to be known as Hawking radiation, in which black holes actually radiate particles at a very slow rate.
Previously, scientists didn't think that any matter could escape a black hole, but Hawking's formulas showed that it was possible.
That discovery prompted a major debate that continues to rage on in cosmology today around what exactly happens to the matter when it enters and even leaves the black hole, marking yet another of Hawking's contributions to the field.
Hawking was also special for the way that he interrogated the universe in front of all of us. He valued bringing the public into the scientific debates that normally take place behind closed doors in labs and offices around the world.
His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, inspired future scientists and other members of the public alike to learn more about how the universe works and how little we really understand of it.
In myriad ways, he helped all of us see how special we are.
Redux: Fireworks Out of Nowhere by The Paris ReviewRedux: A Good Reading Night by The Paris ReviewCelebrating Juneteenth in Galveston by Clint SmithThe Winners of 92Y’s 2021 Discovery Poetry Contest by The Paris ReviewComics That Chart the Swamp of Adolescence by Emily FlakeCooking with Herman Melville by Valerie StiversA Literature on the Brink of Dawn by Richard ZenithStaff Picks: Dopamine, Magazines, and Exhaustive Guides from A to Z by The Paris ReviewOn Returning: Gerhard Richter, New York, and Birds by John Vincler& Other Stories by Eloghosa OsundeOn Immolation by Aisha Sabatini SloanTo Witness the End of Time by Namwali SerpellAnnouncing Our Summer Subscription Deal by The Paris ReviewStaff Picks: Cornets, Collections, and Corn Tempura by The Paris ReviewLadies of the Good Dead by Aisha Sabatini SloanPoets on Couches: Donika Kelly Reads Taylor Johnson by Donika KellyRemembering Janet Malcolm by Katie RoipheCooking with C. L. R. James by Valerie Stivers& Other Stories by Eloghosa OsundeOn the Faces of Strangers: Michaël Borremans’s Pandemic Portrait by John Vincler The many private companies in charge of vaccine passports The user behind @x on Twitter has no idea what will happen after the X rebrand Franzen on Kraus: Footnote 3 by Jonathan Franzen Elon Musk to replace the Twitter bird with an X Punning on John Updike Guy Fieri taught us how to make his delicious mac 'n cheese grilled cheese Martin Amis Owes Everything to His “Wicked Stepmother,” and Other News by Dan Piepenbring The Morning Roundup for January 20, 2014 Congratulations to Jonathan Franzen for his National Book Critics Circle award nomination How to find a COVID Comedies Are Too Depressing, and Other News by Dan Piepenbring Sadie Stein on Missed Connections Anthony Cudahy Book News for January 13, 2014 Lysley Tenorio’s Window on the World Barbenheimer's box office weekend, in numbers Twitter's bird logo is dead, replaced by X Grindr employees are unionizing The Morning Roundup for January 21, 2014 A new meme imagines the ways we could be different people after the pandemic
1.5334s , 10194.0859375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【difference between stability and eroticism esther】,Information Information Network