COMMENT BOOKS & ARTS
COSMOLOGY A life in space-time George Ellis appreciates a Stephen Hawking biography that highlights the epochs of an illustrious career — and the personality behind them.
s both a global icon and an innova- Robert Geroch, Bran- The third era, from 1980 on, was more tive theoretical physicist, Stephen don Carter and John speculative. Hawking tested big ideas in Hawking is well served by science Archibald Wheeler. a creative way, causing much interest and Awriter Kitty Ferguson’s fascinating biography. The book barely men- stimulating much activity. But he did not Ferguson explains in accessible terms the tions Hawking’s rela- achieve the same level of acceptance for these major themes that Hawking has explored in tion to his research ideas in the scientific community as he had his career, and creates a portrait of the pri- supervisor, Dennis earlier. They include the ‘no-boundary’ idea vate man by drawing on her close personal Sciama, who shaped that hypothesizes that the Universe would contact with him and his family. the successful general- start without a singularity in a domain where Hawking — a huge inspiration to disabled relativity research only space existed, as well as his proposals people worldwide through his great Stephen Hawking: group at Cambridge in for space-time wormholes. He also proposed An Unfettered achievements in the face of motor neurone Mind/His Life and the 1960s. that quantum information that has fallen into disease — lives through sheer willpower, Work The second epoch, a black hole is lost at the end of its lifetime. yet retains an impish sense of humour and KITTY FERGUSON from 1973 to 1979, This is a challenging claim for quantum a delight in saying provocative things. For Palgrave/Bantam: saw Hawking’s orthodoxy, and has led to much debate. example, when his fame made it difficult for 2011. 320 pp./ adventurous and ini- The fourth period sees Hawking’s emer- him to be private, he programmed his voice 356 pp. $27/£20 tially controversial, gence as a globally admired public figure. synthesizer to say, “I am often mistaken for but later vindicated, He has written an array of popular books, Stephen Hawking.” He has an incredible work on quantum field theory in a curved starting in 1988 with the legendary A Brief determination and adventurousness, epito- space-time. The core is his innovative paper History of Time (Bantam), and has given mized by his taking a zero-G flight in 2007 integrating quantum field theory, general numerous interviews and talks involving to experience weightlessness. relativity and thermodynamics to establish an extraordinary amount of worldwide Born in Oxford in 1942, Hawking found that black holes emit black-body radiation travel. Hawking’s latest book, The Grand out about his disease when he was just 21, — now known as Hawking radiation. This Design (Bantam, 2010), co-authored with soon after beginning work as a research stu- unexpected result is uniquely his, and is a physicist and writer Leonard Mlodinow, dent at the University of Cambridge, UK. He major achievement that has stood the test considers whether the ‘multiverse’ concept was able to face this shock through his inner of time. He also made important contri- might explain why the Universe appears the strength, together with strong support from butions to studying the beginnings of the way it does, and why it harbours life (for a his first wife, Jane Wilde, who married him growth of structure during the inflationary review see Nature 467, 657–658; 2010). That in the knowledge of his illness — and despite expansion of the early Universe. solution is still speculative for several rea- the terrible way he drove while they were out sons, one being that string theory — essen- on dates. tial to the version of the concept that he Ferguson divides Hawking’s career into supports — is not experimentally confirmed. four epochs. The first, from 1962 to 1973, Hawking has recently advocated space included his careful technical work on gen- travel as a necessity for the survival of the eral relativity and cosmology, including his human race, and discussed life elsewhere famous critique of the ‘action at a distance’ in the Universe. He suggests that life may be alternative theory of gravity by astrophysi- common but that intelligent life is rare. Fer- PHOTOS I. BERRY/MAGNUM cists Fred Hoyle and Jayant Narlikar. The guson goes into Hawking’s public pronounce- highlight was his series of cosmological ments on issues outside physics — such as his singularity theorems, developing the work reductionist views on the way the mind works of mathematical physicist Roger Penrose on and confusingly varied statements on religion black-hole singularities. Hawking showed — which can be viewed with caution given that classical general relativity implies that that they lie outside his area of expertise. there was a start to the Universe: a space- Ferguson’s sympathetic and informed take time singularity beyond which normal on an individual who has enriched human physics would not apply. Hawking also knowledge against the odds is an excellent worked on theorems of black-hole geometry summing-up, as Hawking approaches his and, with his colleagues, established four 70th birthday, of his unique and creative laws of black-hole thermodynamics. contribution to both science and humanity. ■ With this solid work, Hawking built his scientific reputation during this period. But George Ellis is professor emeritus of applied Ferguson’s handling of it is thin. She says little mathematics at the University of Cape about the influential physicists with whom Stephen Hawking in 1986, a time when his ideas Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. he interacted, including Charles Misner, became more speculative, sparking much debate. e-mail: [email protected]
296 | NATURE | VOL 479 | 17 NOVEMBER 2011 © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved