Crys and William have reacted to the news of the death of Stephen Hawking, and I have little to add except that he was a man who earned respect for both his contributions to science and his struggle against a debilitating disease. Also, he had a sense of humor.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
*siiiiigh*
We’ve been losing too many good people in recent years. Terry Pratchett, Spock, Iwata Satoru, Prince, and now Stephen Hawking. Does it feel to ANYONE ELSE like all our good people are getting the hell out of Dodge before the rush? :(
Just read that Hawking’s was in the habit of running over the toes of people he disliked ,he did it to prince charles
It says his one regret is he never had the chance to do it to mrs thatcher .
RIP Stephen Hawking’s .
The Universe just got a little less awesome. I feel like reciting Donne’s poem about For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The best gif was a reply to Brian Cox’s tweet about it: https://twitter.com/sarah_richens/status/973825975015432193. Although it could have been a bit longer, in the original he shoots up into the sky, would have been even perfect-er.
Epic Rap Battles of History Hawkings vs. Einstein
Interview with John Oliver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8y5EXFMD4s
How sadly poetic that he should shuffle off this mortal coil on the same day Albert Einstein was born. Now it’s a day to commemorate the legacies of two titans of science.
Two pretty funny videos above, but not sure about the gif. Did Hawking not approve of Brian Cox? Otherwise, funny joke!
#5
Easily one of the standouts of that entire channel.
Hawking’s last word in this video was worth waiting for IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi0BzqV_b44
#7, he was also born 300 years to the day from Galileo’s death. I believe dying on Pi/Einstein day might have been intentional.
@sillybill, #5
Although I generally enjoy ERB, I really couldn’t stomach this one; Einstein making fun of Hawking’s disability is so out of character and mean spirited.
I know this is the usual style of ERB, and most of the time it works for me, but not in this case.
@ Marissa
yup, all the truly great people are falling, and I don’t feel so good myself.
Hawking’s death was preceded by a few days by that of another British scientist at least equally worthy of admiration: John Sulston: Nobel prize winner in 2002 for his work on the cell lineage and genome of Caenorhabditis elegans, he later led the sequencing of its genome, and became a leader in the Human Genome Project, managing to keep the data in the public domain over the shcemes of Craig Venter to privatize it. He was a proud atheist and socialist.
He was unfortunately cheated by Julian Assange, for whom he provided bail sureties that were forefeited when Assange broke bail.
@alkisvonidas #12,
Yeah, neither one of them would be very rap battle insulty and Albert was well known for being dignified and well spoken. Most of the ERB videos are just silly and not terribly good, however I must confess to being easily amused. When I’ve had a few even ‘Mr. Rogers vs. Mr. T ‘ is funny. Coincidentally (or not) Stephen Hawkings makes several appearances on various ERB videos such as ‘Hitler vs. Darth Vader’ (watch the version with all 3 episodes stuck together).
My fave is ‘Frederick Douglas vs. Thomas Jefferson’ w JB Smoove as Douglas.
Bit of Pedantry : It was Hawking. not Hawkins, Hawkings or Hawking’s. Never Hawking’s, unless describing something he did or owned. Sorry. I shall now desist.
He was a brilliant scholar, whose flexibility of thought allowed him to change his opinion on black holes when his work showed his earlier work was in error.