Wheels of Clay
It’s no secret that Prof. Stephan Hawking is a “rock-star” scientist, as much as
Einstein was in his day. Both have the reputation of being about the smartest people
who’ve ever trod this veil of tears, even if only a few people can actually understand
the substance of their contributions to science. Contributions which are substantial,
whether understood or not by the public.
Hawking’s reputation is naturally enhanced by his tragic physical condition. Having
a disease that slowly eats away at one’s muscular control, rending his body all but
useless save for keeping his mind going, adds to a certain mystique about him. We
all know his story, having contracted the disease in 1963 at age 21 he was given a
scant two years to live, a prediction that he’s outlived by 50 years.
As one of the special guests at this years Starmus Festival, it would be the third time
I’ve seen him in person, as he’s made several visits to Silicon Valley were I live. Two
of his talks were canned lectures I’ve heard before, but he does actively select each
line and its associated visual when on stage. However on one of the other days, there
was a round table discussion on the nature of science between several of the guest
speakers such as Apollo astronaut, Walt Cunningham, Nobel Laureates Harold Kroto
and Robert Wilson (co-discoverer of the Cosmic Background Radiation that proved
the Big Bang theory), and Prof. Hawking.
Partway through the session, Hawking jumped in with some comments regarding a
something from 15 minutes earlier (as it took him that long to construct a
response). While I forgot specifically what the issue was, he proceeded to give a
lengthy and somewhat bizarre anti-religious screed that seemed to have had no
baring on the issues being covered. Okay, so in this crowd, one which hosted
Richard Dawkins on opening day (I missed that one), I would expect some sort of
“Christians are stupid” moment, but coming from Hawking it seemed wildly out of
place and not to mention, poorly informed. Considering that only one person give a
cheer (and a timid one at that), suggests that many others may have been as
surprised as I was. Just the day before moonwalker #10, Charlie Duke, passionately
spoke of his religious conviction.
It was at this point, my respect for him dropped. Just a tic, but still dropped it did.
While I never regarded him as near science deity that others do, it still reminded me
that one of the “smartest” people in the world is capable of saying really stupid stuff.
And I wanted to tell him that.
Fortunately or unfortunately I didn’t get that chance, but I did pull his assistant
aside the next and day and pointed out that my grandparents where missionaries to
India in the ‘20s, and a 250-bed hospital today is a legacy of their labors. “They have
no doubt measurably helped the lives of far more people then knowing what the
first femtosecond of the universe was like.” Then I added “But I think we need both.”
In response she stammered that I must have misunderstood Dr. Hawking’s words,
and countered that he does contribute a lot of funds to faith-based social
organizations and the she herself was a Catholic.
I smiled and thanked her for her time, and asked if I could get a picture with him for
the 5th grade astronomy class I teach. She said, “certainly!”
I never was able to get that picture. And I heard what I heard. And Dr. Hawking still
deserves most of the plaudits granted him.
And I really do hope to learn what the first femtosecond of the universe was like.
Hawking and his intellectual descendants will no doubt be the ones to lift that veil
and bravo to them!