Foreign Policy Magazine

To Infinity and Beyond

GT Stephen Hawking

1942-2018 | PHYSICIST

THE LAST TIME I SAW STEPHEN HAWKING was in Stockholm in 2015. After our small science workshop, he delivered a lecture in the city’s largest venue. As usual, the event was sold out and packed with young people.

Hawking arrived on stage with his gentle smile and legendary wheelchair and started playing the lecture he had recorded in advance. In it, he recounted his latest attempts to understand the future of black holes, offered some quips on the meaning of life, and poked fun at various targets with a grin that betrayed his innate rebelliousness. The audience was transfixed.

In the 10 months since Hawking died, I have been considering his legacy, and I

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