# Stephen Hawking becomes a virtual particle at 76 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2018, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531 "2018-03-14T03:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/41 "2018-03-14T12:50:19Z")
[Moderating] Since Hawking wasn’t an artistic figure, I’m merging the CS thread into the MPSIMS thread. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/42 "2018-03-14T13:05:27Z")
There are apparently at least 10 airworthy [Hawker Hunters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter) - I sincerely hope they arrange for some of them to do a flyby at his funeral. That would be pretty badass. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/43 "2018-03-14T13:10:13Z")
Hawking was a great man. And his Big Bang appearances made him “an artistic figure” in my book. I hope they do a tribute. What are the odds he’d die on Pi day? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/44 "2018-03-14T13:22:03Z")
This is a tremendous loss to us all. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/45 "2018-03-14T13:23:00Z")
About 116π to 1. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/46 "2018-03-14T13:40:24Z")
This news was rather sudden, at least to me. Had there been news he’d been ill? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/47 "2018-03-14T13:41:53Z")
A brilliant man who never took himself too seriously. May he rest in peace. > [@E-DUB](#): > > AFAIK, the only person to portray himself in a Star Trek episode. I think that’s right: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg8\_cKxJZJY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg8_cKxJZJY) And see: [Stephen Hawking | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Stephen_Hawking) Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar playing Hawking in _The Theory of Everything_, talks about him: [https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/03/14/heres-what-eddie-redmayne-who-played-stephen-hawking-in-the-t/23385434/](https://www.aol.com/article/entertainment/2018/03/14/heres-what-eddie-redmayne-who-played-stephen-hawking-in-the-t/23385434/) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/48 "2018-03-14T13:44:08Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > This news was rather sudden, at least to me. Had there been news he’d been ill? Yes. Yes there was. Oh, you mean besides ALS? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/49 "2018-03-14T14:34:13Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > The guy lived this long with a disease that should have killed him decades ago. That alone is extremely impressive. Slight hijack: Anyone interested in ALS should check out the documentary [_Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Becker:_Not_Dead_Yet), which is about a young guitarist who was poised to become the next Steve Vai / Yngwie Malmsteen, until his career was suddenly derailed by ALS. Twenty-eight years later, he’s still alive, and still composing music using a computer that tracks his eye movements. A truly impressive young man. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/50 "2018-03-14T14:40:09Z")
He’s now the Star Child (figuratively). RIP, Stephen. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/51 "2018-03-14T15:44:40Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Oh, you mean besides ALS? I knew he had ALS. I hadn’t heard he’d taken a turn for the worse. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/52 "2018-03-14T15:46:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > > Since Hawking wasn’t an artistic figure, I’m merging the CS thread into the MPSIMS thread. He authored and co-wrote over a dozen books, appeared in multiple films and TV shows and was the primary subject of several, including an Oscar nominated bio-pic. Arguably, he was a bigger celebrity than he was a scientist. Not many scientists become as big a part of the popular culture as he did. Not protesting the move, but I disagree that he wasn’t an artistic figure. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/53 "2018-03-14T15:50:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Arguably, he was a bigger celebrity than he was a scientist. I’d actually agree, but “celebrity” isn’t synonymous with “artist”. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/54 "2018-03-14T16:06:45Z")
I can remember how urgently doctors worked to keep Stephen alive and working in the 70’s and 80’s. His work was so ground breaking and important for science. Individuals like Isaac Newton and Hawking may only appear once in a generation. It may be another century before the full scope of Hawkings theoretical work will be fully understood and proven. Even his recent work may someday be proven and applied in ways we can’t even imagine. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/55 "2018-03-14T18:51:04Z")
This bums me out quite a bit. I met Hawking back in the day at one of my fathers meetings. A large percentage of our family vacations when I was growing up was heading out to scientific meetings. We would get to the destination on a weekend and do vacation-y things. During the week my father would do his meetings and my mother and I would do vacation-y things. The following weekend we’d do more vacation-y things as a family and drive home. The bonus was that, since my father drove to to the meeting for business, a lot of the cost was picked up by the business. I met Hawking at one of the meetings, during a dinner. I vaguely remember it. It was before he published A Brief History of Time. I have, if such a thing existed, a Hawking number of 2\*. My Dad worked with Hawking at the meetings and I worked (I am counting homework here. Don’t laugh, it was science! And math!) with my father. I also have a Feynman number of 2\*\*. Dick K, a very good friend of our family, worked with Feynman. Once again, I worked with Dick (homework again. Physics!). Slee \*Yeah, a stretch. \*\* See above. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/56 "2018-03-14T19:44:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’d actually agree, but “celebrity” isn’t synonymous with “artist”. Of course, but he was also an author of pop culture science books and a performer with many credits in fictional entertainment material. He even wrote five fiction children books. Mundane and pointless is not how I would have described him for he was no mere celebrity. He was even a singer. 😉 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XfcC6FYyL4U/maxresdefault.jpg "Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python… Galaxy Song (Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfcC6FYyL4U) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/57 "2018-03-14T20:39:02Z")
This one hurts, I never had the honor to meet him, but I feel as if a family member had died, very much like Douglas Adams. Farewell, Professor, the world has become dramatically smaller and dumber with you gone, the collective IQ of the human race has slipped downwards ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/58 "2018-03-14T20:53:04Z")
[quote=“caligulathegod, post:56, topic:810531”] …He was even a singer. 😉 [/QUOTE] See post 18. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/59 "2018-03-14T22:03:59Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Maybe he’d still be alive if no one checked in on him today. If you can’t tell Hawking and Schrodinger apart, perhaps you know too much about their velocities and not enough about their vocations. RIP, Steven Hawking. I like to think you’d be happy with the general public making (terrible) physics jokes. (and yes, I know that’s Heisenberg.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531/60 "2018-03-14T22:14:40Z")
Married twice, with three children. I did NOT know that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-hawking-becomes-a-virtual-particle-at-76/810531.md?page=4)