Stephen Hawkings Dead at 76

adorshki

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If I were a betting man, I'd wager that he's right on that one, too.
If I were a betting man I'd wager that the good doctor knows the answer to that now....

BUT if there's not, he doesn't.
:glee:





Moving right along, anybody ever wonder why gravity waves look so much like vibrating strings?
uh uh....
http://siz.io/gravitational-waves-sounds-are-not-like-stephen-colbert-expected/
tumblr_o35qbtw8KC1rc7zl1o1_540.gif

gw-waves-wave.gif

einstein_wave.gif

"I feel so vindicated!"
 
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adorshki

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In space there's a big ear:

dj9gxxbdkc7hlefh.jpg!heading


So somebody really can hear you scream.

And why would space need a big ear unless you really can hear gravity waves?
 

AcornHouse

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I never read any of his stuff. I always figured it was beyond my pay scale, so to speak, and, like many things in the theoretical physics, apt to be dis-proven for a new idea. What book of his would be a good place to start ?
I did read his Brief History of Time back in the day, and found it approachable. (I mean, its not like I'm a college professor or som...oh wait.) Apparently he followed that some years later with A Briefer History of Time, which is supposed to be more accessible. I'd start there.
https://www.amazon.com/Briefer-Hist...preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
 

Quantum Strummer

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Hawking was a great physicist, but he was not that great as a science writer. There are many excellent books about cosmology and the current state of science that are much better than those of Hawking. Here are a few....

Origins, Fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution [2004] -- Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith

The Red Limit [1977]-- Timothy Ferris

Blind Watchers of the Sky, The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe [1996] -- Rocky Kolb

The First Three Minutes, A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe [1977] -- Steven Weinberg

Wrinkles in Time [1993] -- George Smoot, Keay Davidson

IMO these are all good recommendations. I like Timothy Ferris' writing style & approach in particular. (Not to be confused with Tim Ferriss, the self-help dude. :smile: )

-Dave-
 

Cougar

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I like Timothy Ferris' writing style & approach in particular.....

He is definitely one of the best. He writes stuff like:


"We live in a changing universe, and few things are changing faster than our conception of it."

"Making a model of the universe is like trying to pitch a tent on a moonless night in a howling Arctic wind. The tent is theory. The wind is experiment. When one gets to the precipice, where the secure lands of the known have been left behind and the dark canyons of the unknown fill one's field of view, it becomes very difficult to guess just where to set the tent pegs and to predict which ones will hold once the wind comes up."​

:tiger:
 

tommym

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I'm not a big science fan, but I do recall Mr Hawkings stating that the gold record placed on the voyager probes showing Earth's location my not have been the smartest move on mankind's part. You never know who is coming home for dinner.

Tommy
 

adorshki

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I'm not a big science fan, but I do recall Mr Hawkings stating that the gold record placed on the voyager probes showing Earth's location my not have been the smartest move on mankind's part. You never know who is coming home for dinner.

Tommy

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Toserveman.jpg


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GAD

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Hey how about a Spoiler alert! Someone may not have seen that episode from 1962 yet!

You're on a tear today!
 

dreadnut

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It was pointed out to me that my earlier post on this subject may have crossed the line on our agreement not to discuss politics or religion, so I have deleted it. I value this forum for not descending into the constant bickering of social media, and my intent was not to start an argument.
 

Antney

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It was pointed out to me that my earlier post on this subject may have crossed the line on our agreement not to discuss politics or religion, so I have deleted it. I value this forum for not descending into the constant bickering of social media, and my intent was not to start an argument.

hey dread...fwiw I didn't take offense to your comment nor did i think you were in any way looking to start an argument. i thought your comment was completely in line with the debate about the desceaseds scientific observations. but it got me wondering: if the the good dr happened to gaze into a telescope one night and observe something radically undiscovered do you suppose he was more of a "wtf" guy than an "omg" guy?
 

dreadnut

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I've been an amateur astronomer since I as a kid. Still an amateur, LOL.
 

Cougar

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.....but it got me wondering: if the the good dr happened to gaze into a telescope one night and observe something radically undiscovered do you suppose he was more of a "wtf" guy than an "omg" guy?

What's crazy is, it wasn't that long ago that we didn't know any of the rather amazing things we know today - as far as just the scope of our universe, our huge galaxy is but one among billions? Looks like there's lots of other planets out there, in other star systems. The cosmic microwave background radiation fairly well nails down a very hot, dense "beginning" of essentially hydrogen and helium gas about 14 billion years ago? We're living in an era of precision cosmology! :saturn:
 

matsickma

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Happen to see "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawkings" on Discovery channel last night. Excellent show to cover all the theory and physics in terms and examples that use practical examples. Missed some of the early parts of the show. Apparently in was a show initially released in 2010.
If you can find it on a rebroadcast (thats a obsolete term that has become applicable again due to online streaming!) it is worth your time.

It is so interesting to see how human conscienceness leads all cultures to seek the ultimate answer. We may never be intelligent enough to grasp the ultimate answer.

I remember when I was in college and we were studying "wave-partical duality". For those not familiar with the term it is based in the concept that sometimes matter looks like a partical, ie throwing a baseball, or a wave, ie a surface wave of water in a pond that simply bends around an obstruction.
Both particles and waves reflect but waves diffract, refract and interfer constructivly and deconstructivly.
The professor made the the profetic comment we as humans can't comprehend the true nature of matter so we have to look at in different ways, particle or wave, depending on the situation.
I found that concept to be enlightening.
M
 

adorshki

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