Stephen Hawking...

Sad to hear that Stephen Hawking has died. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, aged 21, in 1963. Despite being told by doctors that he only had two more years to live, he made it to the age of 76. I know how highly he was thought of by those who work in the rarified air of quantum physics, though, of course, I could fit everything I know about quantum physics in a matchbox… without taking out the matches. 

This is the last sentence in his best-known book, A Brief History of Time: “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of reason - for then we should know the mind of God”, which some people have taken to imply a religious faith. It’s not; it’s a metaphor, pace Albert Einstein’s equally famous quip: “I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos”.

This quote better expresses Stephen Hawking’s views on the relationship between science and religion. “There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority; and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works”…

Another twilight shot, licensed today: the Three Tuns in Alcester...