# Is Stephen Hawkings overrated? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 3, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707 "2015-04-03T14:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/1 "2015-04-03T14:27:01Z")
Is Stephen Hawkings overrated? In the sense that is he on the same level of scientist as Galileo, Newton, Einstein? ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/2 "2015-04-03T14:40:47Z")
I don’t think that’s something quantifiable. All are in the “top level,” whatever that is. Most of us are in no position to truly evaluate the science of Hawking’s work or the complexities of any of those scientists either, let alone know much about the work of other less-celebrated scientists, but since Hawking’s work is highly respected by many other scientists, I think it’s safe to say he is not a hack in any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/3 "2015-04-03T14:47:12Z")
Who is Stephen Hawkings? He can’t be overrated, as I’ve never heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/4 "2015-04-03T15:16:21Z")
I liked his first album but not so much since then. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/5 "2015-04-03T15:58:57Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Who is Stephen Hawkings? He can’t be overrated, as I’ve never heard of him. I am assuming that the OP actually means Stephen Hawking. Maybe not, though. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/6 "2015-04-03T16:03:20Z")
Time posed the same question about Stephen Hawking. My own opinion? He’s very, very good. His immobility gives him more time to simply sit and think. A great asset for a theorist. > **[Hawking: Is He All He’s Cracked Up To Be?](https://time.com/3531/hawking-myth-or-legend/)** > > We all know that Stephen Hawking is the greatest living physicist—but what we all know may not be true > [@](#): > > But it’s the discoveries that really catapulted Hawking into the pantheon of physics greatness, right? Trapped in an increasingly useless body, he could, as Caltech physicist Kip Thorne says in the film “move at lightning speed through the universe, seeing things nobody else could see.” He is, as most of us know, the greatest physicist since Einstein. > > Except that he isn’t. “Rubbish,” Hawking himself responded, when I posed this proposition to him during a 1993 interview. “It’s mere media hype.” It’s undeniable that Hawking has made key contributions to both relativity and quantum physics. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/7 "2015-04-03T16:05:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Time posed the same question about Stephen Hawking. > [Hawking: Is He Really That Great? | TIME](http://time.com/3531/hawking-myth-or-legend/) thanks ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/8 "2015-04-03T16:34:08Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Who is Stephen Hawkings? He can’t be overrated, as I’ve never heard of him. I have. I think he is that guy who was the first person to go Mars. Or that guy who worked for Planet Express. I forget which. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/9 "2015-04-03T16:46:10Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I have. I think he is that guy who was the first person to go Mars. Or that guy who worked for Planet Express. I forget which. You’re thinking of Stephen Fry, one half of a British comedy duo. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/10 "2015-04-03T17:09:14Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Is Stephen Hawkings overrated? In the sense that is he on the same level of scientist as Galileo, Newton, Einstein? Galileo, Newton, and Einstein were all revolutionary, in a way that few scientists are (or get the chance to be). If anyone’s equating Stephen Hawking with them, I do think they’re overrating him. The question of whether he is overrated came up in [this relatively recent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=748961), especially starting on Page 2, with posts like this one: > [@Was Albert Einstein Really the Smartest Human?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-albert-einstein-really-the-smartest-human/712405/69): > > Asympotically fat writes: > > \> I think my point is that with Stephen Hawking people tend to assume that his > \> reputation is mostly undeserved because of his huge media profile, but don’t be > \> fooled he genuinely is someone who reached the pinnacle of his field and was > \> known for his particular brilliance. > > I don’t think that the average person today who’s heard of Stephen Hawking thinks that his reputation is undeserved. I think that they overrate him. By “average person,” I mean all those who know his name, which includes people who know little of what physics is about. Someone who has seen the _Star Trek_ episode with him, Einstein, Newton, and Data playing poker could easily get the idea that his achievements are on the level of Einstein or Newton. They aren’t. He may be one of the 20 best physicists alive, but he’s not the best. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/11 "2015-04-03T17:12:41Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Galileo, Newton, and Einstein were all revolutionary, in a way that few scientists are (or get the chance to be). If anyone’s equating Stephen Hawking with them, I do think they’re overrating him. > > The question of whether he is overrated came up in [this relatively recent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=748961), especially starting on Page 2, with posts like this one: thanks who would be the best then??? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/12 "2015-04-03T17:19:07Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Is Stephen Hawkings overrated? In the sense that is he on the same level of scientist as Galileo, Newton, Einstein? Who has put him on the same level as Galileo, Newton, Einstein? ---
**Author:** ![Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Methyl\_Ethyl\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Methyl_Ethyl_Death)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/13 "2015-04-03T17:26:40Z")
Stephen’s just this guy, y’know. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/14 "2015-04-03T17:54:18Z")
There’s more than one metric at play here. Hawking is exceedingly famous and well-esteemed for three reasons: he’s a top-notch scientist, he’s an excellent and engaging science communicator, and his personal story is remarkable and inspiring. If you remove the latter two from his CV, he’s still a top-tier scientist and would almost certainly be well-regarded in scientific communities. Would he be a household name? Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/15 "2015-04-03T21:15:40Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Who has put him on the same level as Galileo, Newton, Einstein? Agreed: no one has, and no one will. I’m happy that he’s on a level with Alan Guth or Peter Higgs. If either of those men had written best-sellers and/or had incredible drama in their private lives, they’d probably be as well-known as Hawking. But where it really counts, among people who keep up with the news of physics, they are very well-known. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/16 "2015-04-03T21:19:08Z")
I’ve heard physicists or physics students say he’s basically the 20th or 30th most valuable/productive/important physicist alive today. People are under the impression that he’s the smartest man in the world and/or the most valuable physicist, and he’s not, so yes, in that sense he’s definitely overrated. What he’s accomplished with such a debilitating disease is not overrated, it’s an extreme impressive personal feat, but that doesn’t mean that he’s an intellectual giant on par with Einstein. If he didn’t have ALS, the public wouldn’t know about him at all, and physicists would know of him, and regard his work as valuable, but no more so than dozens of other people. I think the public almost thinks of him in terms of superheroes - he has a massive weakness, so he must have almost magical mind powers to compensate. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/17 "2015-04-03T21:37:08Z")
As a point guard, yes. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/18 "2015-04-03T22:00:53Z")
I’m not some big science guy, but is it fair to compare him with scientists of the past as far as accomplishments? ISTM, the field was a little more wide open. There were others working on similar theories to the giants mentioned,is it beyond belief that had Hawking been around at the time he could have been part of their well known discoveries? Of course, back then he would have died at an early age. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/19 "2015-04-03T22:15:11Z")
Where’s the poll option for “I still get confused by decimals, so I’m really not qualified to make this judgement”? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707/20 "2015-04-03T23:44:21Z")
He’s a theoretical physicist with a cool robot voice. What’s to overrate with a combo like that? If I were a theoretical physicist, I’d seriously consider going with a cool robot voice as well. That and maybe lasers too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-stephen-hawkings-overrated/716707.md?page=2)