Charles Seif wrote an idiosyncratic biography, The Real Hawking: The Making of a Famous Scientist, in which, without detracting from the greatness of the scientist, he paints a remarkably well-founded portrait of him. The problem for Saif was that after the famous Timeline, Hawking had become something of a guru. And the fact that he even lost his voice and communicated in short quotes, which were transmitted to the world through the impersonal but evocative electronic sound of a computer, made the great scientist what the general public has been looking for at all times: a kind of guru who has answers to everything. questions.

Today, the book is published by Metaichmio, translated by Andreas Mikhailidis. We pre-publish selected passages.

Hawking’s first significant research achievement was a major discovery about the origin of the universe. At that time, in 1965, there were two competing models for the creation of the universe: either the universe was in a state of constant renewal, or it was born as a result of a powerful explosion, now known as the Big Bang. Hawking demonstrated in his doctoral dissertation that if the universe began with the Big Bang, then it began as a singularity: a point at which the laws of physics no longer make any sense, an infinitesimal but infinite crack in the fabric of spacetime. The point at which mathematics itself collapses. It was a startling conclusion: if one accepted the Big Bang theory, one also had to admit that the laws of physics as we know them are not sufficient to describe the birth of our universe. This idea, known today as the singularity theorem, launched Hawking’s career. (…)

Stephen Hawking as an icon in the second half of the twentieth century was as much a product of the media as Albert Einstein was in the first half.

Stephen Hawking as an icon in the second half of the twentieth century was as much a product of the media as Albert Einstein was in the first half. In Hawking, the press seemed to have found a man who could rival Einstein—even surpass him—in every way. (…) Like his predecessor, this gave Hawking the opportunity to become one of the few who can directly look at one of the most destructive forces in the universe; he descended all alone into the black hole’s mouth and returned with secret knowledge that no one else could extract. He was also supposed to complete Einstein’s search for a theory of everything: although it was never an essential part of Hawking’s scientific research (and he was far behind the superstring theorists and others who worked to unify theories), this search was a central part of his myth. (…)

“I was with him in the hospital several times,” Kip Thorne recalled. “On one such occasion, he was in pretty bad shape, and his only way to communicate was through the use of cards held up by his caregivers, basically nodding yes or no to the letter or symbol on the card,” says Thorn. . “Even then, he didn’t show much annoyance. It was really amazing.” (…)

The odd fact about Hawking was that he had an unusual attachment – perhaps even devotion – to a celebrity who, on the surface, was his diametrical opposite. Stephen adored Marilyn Monroe. Director Errol Morris was talking to Hawking during the filming of The Chronicle of Time, and at some point the subject of Monroe was brought up. As Morris puts it, “Eventually I told him, ‘I understand why you have all these pictures of Marilyn Monroe hanging on your wall. And she, like you, was valued more for her body than for her mind.

Then he gave me a wild look, as if to say, “What the hell are you talking about, Mr. Morris?” He gives me a crazy look, finally there is a click, and he says: “YES.” This was perhaps the greatest of the many paradoxes in Hawking’s life.