|
|
South Africa: Hawking Enthrals a Capacity Audience
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Cape Argus (Cape Town)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
His immobile body is trapped in his wheelchair but his brilliant mind soars to the edges of the Universe as he ponders the most fundamental questions humans can ask: Why are we here? Where did we come from?
And, with the slightest of flickers in his right cheek and an infra-red "blink switch" clipped onto his glasses, theoretical physicist extraordinaire and internationally acclaimed cosmologist Stephen Hawking communicates not only his serious responses to these questions but also some, perhaps surprising, light touches - a combination that enthralled a capacity crowd in the Muizenberg Pavilion last night.
On his website, the famous father of three and grandfather of one explains how Californian computer expert Walt Woltosz wrote a program for him, called Equalizer, which enables him to communicate.
In his lecture on the nature of the Universe last night, he acknowledged that not all the problems had been solved. "God really does play dice," he quipped. But he concluded: "We are getting closer to answering those age-old questions."
|
At yesterday's luncheon hosted by British High Commissioner Paul Boateng, Hawking said the Einstein Initiative of Aims (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences) was "very exciting" and predicted it would have a major impact on the continent's development.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Cape Argus. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
