Stephen Hawking’s words from beyond the grave bring tears to his daughter’s eyes
SPEAKING FROM beyond the grave, Professor Stephen Hawking has told a new generation growing up in an increasingly insular world: “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.”
The eminent cosmologist, who had motor neurone disease and died in March, had his final public thoughts broadcast at a special event to launch his last book, Brief Answers To The Big Questions.
Professor Hawking’s words of advice and defiance, echoing from an Imax screen at London’s Science Museum, brought tears to the eyes of his daughter Lucy.
He warned that education and science were “in danger now more than ever before”.
The professor added: “We are ... in danger of becoming culturally isolated and insular and increasingly remote from where progress is being made.
“With Brexit and Trump now exerting new forces in relation to immigration and the development of education, we are witnessing a global revolt against experts, and that includes scientists.
“What lies ahead for those who are young now? I can say with confidence that their future will depend more on science and technology than any previous generation’s has done.”
Global warming, overpopulation, species extinction, deforestation and the degradation of the oceans were just some of the challenges science had to meet, he said.
In the book, Prof Hawking sets out his answers to “big questions” about topics ranging from time travel to Brexit. Brief Answers To The Big Questions is published by John Murray, priced £14.99.