RIP Mr. Hawking

Godspeed.

To be so capable, so brilliant, and so physically handicapped, is an inspiration. Strength comes in many forms.

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly.

Well said Clockwork. Lightspeed, Mr. Hawking.

Sad. 

Appleseed said:

To be so capable, so brilliant, and so physically handicapped, is an inspiration. Strength comes in many forms.

 

Larry Flynt is right. 

That's Professor Hawking to you. 

As I noted elsewhere, we were lucky to have him for so long, given his physical condition.  RIP.

That guy would die on Pi day.

What a geek.

Tom_Spangler said:

As I noted elsewhere, we were lucky to have him for so long, given his physical condition.  RIP.

The world is a better place for it. I think I read when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis he was given 5 years to live. 55 years and an astounding career in physics later we're mourning him.

That guy would die on Pi day.

He was also born on the date of Galileo's death 300 years to the day.

I'm going to go read A Brief History of Time again.

I remember reading A Brief History of Time, by choice, back when I was in college. It was the only book that I had ever read that came with an entire second book explaining how to read the first book.

Woody said:

I remember reading A Brief History of Time, by choice, back when I was in college. It was the only book that I had ever read that came with an entire second book explaining how to read the first book.

I believe he referred to it as the least read best selling book, hence the second book A Briefer History of Time.

A great man. Him and Carl Sagan were my wife heroes. 

NEALSMO said:

Woody said:

I remember reading A Brief History of Time, by choice, back when I was in college. It was the only book that I had ever read that came with an entire second book explaining how to read the first book.

I believe he referred to it as the least read best selling book, hence the second book A Briefer History of Time.

He did great work. Moved our species into different ways of thinking. Hopefully he has inspired many to follow his path. 

The0retical said:

That guy would die on Pi day.

He was also born on the date of Galileo's death 300 years to the day.

Galileo Galilei died on Jan 8

Stephen Hawking born Jan 8 

Exactly 300 years later

Albert Einstein born March 14

Stephen Hawking died March 14 

Both on Pi-Day

Einstein and Hawking both died at age 76

Coincidence?

Yes. That's what a coincidence is.

                                                                       God  Has A  Plan.