I recall he said the first time he realized something was wrong was when he started having trouble pouring a beer. Hoist one for him!
Genius aside, its amazing how tough he was to live this long. He will be missed
He was an amazing person who was brilliant yet humble. He was fond of making bets, and he lost some big ones and was not too proud to admit it and pay up. Read “The Black Hole War (my battle with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics)” by Leonard Susskind for an entertaining story that includes one of them. As a physicist, I name all my brews after famous physicists or physics phenomena, and I will definitely dedicate one to Hawking in the near future. He was English, and his mother was Scottish, so either of those types of beer would be appropriate. Perhaps a high-gravity Singularity Stout that is so dark that nothing can escape except Hawking radiation.
It always makes me sad that the smartest among us always seem to have something else “wrong”… like the human body only has so much energy to go around (which actually makes sense from a physics standpoint). You have brains, or brawn, but really hard to have both. If Einstein were alive today they’d probably pump him full of drugs for ADHD and Autism spectrum disorder… the question would be whether that would blunt his genius or not.
Hawkins shared what he had with the whole world… for that he’ll always be remembered. Physics students in 200 years will be reading about Hawkins research and then how a contemporary from their time is building on it.
“Always look up to the stars…”
That also appears to happen to people talented in other ways, like musical.
The Black Hole War was a great read, although Susskind came off a bit smug and self-important, IMO. I may have to order the Audible version soon, if only for his perspective on Hawking at that point in his career.
I can say that the death of Stephen Hawking has touched me unlike any other person to date. I grew up enjoying physics and science. His contributions to science cannot be understated. It is truly amazing that he lived the long and full life that he did. I will take a hint from others here and brew a batch in his honor. Of course, it will have to have a fitting name as well.