Remembering Stephen Hawking

Paralytic, physicist, celebrity, genius. There are many words to describe Stephen Hawking by, but none capable of defining him on their own. Diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 22, he was never expected to make it to 25, let alone to the next century. And amazingly, the wonder of Professor Hawking was not his surviving the disease, but his thriving in spite of it. Now, at the age of 76, the modern-day renaissance man leaves the world with an intellectual void. And yet paradoxically, the world is fuller for simply having had him in it.

Stephen Hawking: Remembering the Legend

Some remember him as the man behind the discovery of Hawking radiation. Others recall him as the author of A Brief History of Time. No doubt his family remembers him in their own way as well, while this amateur scientist thinks of him as the man who answers philosophy with physics. The Internet comes alive as members of the amateur and mainstream scientific communities remember Professor Hawking in their own ways.

His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake. But it's not empty. Think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of spacetime that defies measure. Stephen Hawking, RIP 1942-2018. pic.twitter.com/nAanMySqkt

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 14, 2018

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet" – Professor Stephen Hawking
1942-2018 https://t.co/h8uWznhEpb pic.twitter.com/RVeQx2BTxP

— Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) March 14, 2018

Remembering Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist and ambassador of science. His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014 pic.twitter.com/FeR4fd2zZ5

— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2018

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." #StephenHawking pic.twitter.com/H6aIG6hzPE

— HISTORY (@HISTORY) March 14, 2018

Stephen Hawking and the Afterlife

Professor Stephen Hawking was known for his pragmaticism among other things. He did not bother with the unobservable. He did not dwell on things that could not be studied. As such, he did not believe in heaven, hell, or the afterlife. Oftentimes, he would call out concepts such as God or the afterlife to be “irrelevant.”

“There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers,” he once told The Guardian when referring to his own brain. “That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

They were cold words to the ears of theists worldwide, and yet there is a certain strength to them. Perhaps heaven is real, or perhaps there is nothing but the void. What we do know is that Professor Hawking lived his life to the best extent that he could. He did it not in preparation for an afterlife, but rather for the simple reason that it was right. If the afterlife exists, then he may very well be standing before its gates, proud and without shame. Or, if in the end, there is nothing beyond this life, then at the very least, he has left this world better than it was when he arrived.

There is nothing more a man can ask for. Rest in peace, Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018).