Category Archives: Physics

Stephen Hawking has passed away

NPR The Two-Way: Stephen Hawking, Who Awed Both Scientists And The Public, Dies.

“There aren’t very many scientists who achieved rock-star status. Stephen Hawking, who has died at the age of 76, family members told British media early Wednesday, was definitely a contender.

“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years,” the family statement said, according to The Guardian. “His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him for ever.””

Link via Garret.

Many more links and stories about Hawking in this MetaFilter thread: A brief history of a man.

I read his most famous book “A Brief History of Time” (Eine kurze Geschichte der Zeit) years ago, but think I’ll re-read it now.

“Food for thought for the future. Or maybe the past?”

NPR cosmos & culture: Can We Change The Past?

“An important detail is that the switching over of detecting apparatus must be faster than the time the photon has to travel to the detectors. This way, there is no way the photon could “know” what to do. (If a photon knows anything, anyway.) Experiments presented in October extended the range of the photon’s trip to about 2,200 miles, and still the photon seems to always choose the path consistent with the delayed choice. It is as if — Mike McRae wrote in this Science Alert piece — “that even after the horse has bolted 2,200 miles out of the gate, it can still wait until the finish line to decide which race it ran.” That is, which path to the finish line it took.”