Hawking to Take Zero Gravity Ride

An anonymous reader writes "Well-known cosmologist Stephen Hawking is preparing for a once-in a lifetime trip. His goals are for even higher ground, but right now he's readying for an April zero gravity ride aboard NASA's 'vomit comet'. His ultimate goal is to take a ride on one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic flights, and this is a 'test run' for that more rigorous experience. Though complex math ain't no thing for Dr. Hawking, his interests here are purely inspirational. 'Hawking says he wants to encourage public interest in spaceflight, which he believes is critical to the future of humanity. "I also want to show," he said in an e-mail interview, "that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit."'"

As a person with a progressive disability...

[blind biker]

...I find Hawking's life an immense inspiration. Rock on dude, show the world what a man can do, even if almost completely paralized! FTW!

Err Hmm

[KKlaus]

Well, to be fair, with an incredible amount of brilliance, so he can find a job where physical work is almost entirely unneccassary. It's not like he's an average guy just making it in the world. Sort of like ol Chris Reeves. All his story really means is that if you're extremely rich, you can expect to get treatments that far exceed what others would get. And since all the effort he puts into that directly helps him, I guess the most you can say is that he's not a wimp.

Anyhow, I didn't mean to be downer, and Hawking is obviously a very impressive person, but he's hardly a role model for the disabled... because he's a man of near singular abilities. If Kobe Bryant had been born in the ghetto, he can hardly be a role model to your average poor kid, because none of them could ever become wealthy by being great basketball players because they don't have his abilities. You see?

Re:Future != now

[MMC Monster]

Why not educate everyone before working on nanotechnology? Why not master world hunger before working on worldwide literacy rates?

The point is, we can work on all of these things. Provided that humans still exist 500 years from now, there will still be poor illiterate people, regardless of what planet or plane of existence we live in then.

Let's set our sights on the stars. Maybe at least we'll hit Mars.

Re:Err Hmm

[Mal-2]

Many children see basketball players as role models. It's quite questionable if they should, but no question that they do.

Stephen Hawking was exceptionally lucky that his disability proved to be manageable, at least professionally. Others may be able to use this as inspiration to change to better-suited careers. One thing that absolutely cannot be disputed is his ability to roll with the punches, and fire back with a few of his own. Live life aggressively. If your only career path is to be a theoretical physicist, then be the best damn theoretical physicist you can.

A basketball player, on the other hand, sends the message that "if you're good enough, you could become rich and respected yourself." While this is true, the number of players that reach this elite status are few. Even the numbers that even make it to the NBA are relatively few, and just making it is no guarantee of celebrity. (Of course this is true of any profession where the money is mostly paid out to a few people at the top.) The ideal lesson would be "always have a backup plan" but usually it ends up being "you really can do anything!"

Mal-2

Re:is Hawking a real physicist?

[novafire]

No scientist with or without Hawking's celebrity status is without fault. Regardless of how many thumbs up or thumbs down his various works have gotten, I think he has at the very least helped publicize science in the eyes of the common man. In a world where creationism and religious fundamentalism can try to squash science and somehow often succeeds, we as a race need books such as A Brief History of Time to at the very least get people interested in science and start asking questions. Questioning everything and anything is probably the most profound act we can do and its great that people don't agree with his theories. Is he deserving of his status? Maybe, maybe not, but I would take him over any religious nut any day of the week.

Re:is Hawking a real physicist?

[Lavene]

Some people think he's not that great as can be seen in the video The Hawking Paradox [google.ca].

For a scientist, being proven wrong is no big deal and often just as important as being right. It's just another factor in his/ her continuing work. Being wrong does not make you a bad scientist. Einstein's 'Cosmological Constant' anyone?

Hawking has been wrong numerous times (it usually costs him a case of wine). Quite often he actually prove *himself* wrong.