"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny"

केंब्रिज : महान शास्त्रज्ञ डॉ. स्टीफन हॉकिंग यांचे वयाच्या ७६ व्या वर्षी आज (बुधवार) निधन झाले. केंब्रिजमधील राहत्या घरी पहाटे त्यांचे निधन झाल्याचे हॉकिंग कुटुंबीयांनी सांगितले. त्यांनी विज्ञान क्षेत्रामध्ये मोलाचे योगदान दिले.  

८ जानेवारी १९४२ रोजी इंग्लंडमधील ऑक्सफर्ड येथे स्टीफन हॉकिंग यांचा जन्म झाला. त्यांची आई आणि वडील दोघेही उच्च शिक्षित होते. त्यांचे वडील डॉ. फ्रँक हॉकिंग हे जीवशास्त्राचे संशोधक तर त्यांची आई वैद्यकीय संशोधन सचिव होती. आई-वडील दोघेही शिक्षित असल्याने घरातच त्यांना संशोधनाचे धडे मिळाले. त्यामुळे त्यांनी विज्ञान क्षेत्रात मोठे योगदान दिले. त्यांनी ऑक्सफर्ड विद्यापीठातून भौतिकशास्त्रात उत्तम यश संपादन करत प्रथम क्रमांक मिळवला. त्यानंतर त्यांनी केंब्रिज विद्यापीठात पीएचडीचे शिक्षण घेतले. 

त्यांनी आत्तापर्यंत विविध विषयात यश संपादन केले. त्यांचे विचार आजही सर्वांच्या मनात असून, सर्वांना प्रेरणा देत आहेत. त्यांचे काही प्रेरणादायक विचार : 

— "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special."

— "Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."

— "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

— "For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking."

— "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

— "I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful."

— "Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free."

— "If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

— "We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet."