Poking around the Discover magazine web site looking for something else, I ran across this interview with Kip Thorne about black holes, wormholes, LIGO, and Stephen Hawking:
It sounds like Hawking hasn't done very well in his bets.
He hasn't won any of these bets yet. I think that characterizes the fact that he's ready to go out on a limb and challenge people, as a way of trying to foster the forward movement of science.Are you still in contact professionally with Hawking?
He and I have never written a paper together. His current focus is the birth of the universe. Mine is probing its warped side. I will be going to Cambridge soon and spend a day with him, and we'll be talking about physics and about life. He's just finished writing a book for children called George's Secret Key to the Universe. I'm eager to read it. It should contain gems of wisdom, not just for children but for adults and probably also for physicists like me.
Sadly, there's no mention of Jonathan Vos Post. I'm sure this is just an oversight.
- Log in to post comments
The Discover magazine web pages connect somehow with the hardcopy magazine, a copy of which I bought when Kip was in it. Good article. Great man.
"Sadly, there's no mention of Jonathan Vos Post. I'm sure this is just an oversight."
No, Chad. I know my place in the hierarchy. I was very lucky to known Kip Thorne all these years, and have him treat me with dignity and kindness in meetings with his colleagues and postdocs. But I am not qualified to shine his shoes, academically.
I'd only spent a couple of dozen hours with Hawking over the years, and have epsilon chance of ever breaking into science superstardom at his level, i.e. appearing in Star Trek and the Simpsons.
I have known some of the smartest people in the world. I have no delusions of being one of them.
It is, on the other hand, possible to win a Nebula or Hugo someday. Those seem more in reach than Nobel prizes or Field Medals.
We do what we can, Chad. So I'll take your comment in the snarky but good-natured way.