The Theory of Everything

Today is Professor Stephen Hawking's 73rd birthday.  Stephen Hawking is a great man, a man famous the world over, a man who has outlived his Motor Neurone Disease prognosis by almost 50 years and who has devoted that time to scientific endeavour. That's the man we know.

This week I went to the movies to see The Theory of Everything - based on Jane Hawking's book of their life together.  It's already my favourite film of 2015.  Famous for quintessentially British films that satisfy a global audience, Working Title have done a splendid job with the story and have created something quite beautiful.  The cinematography, by Benoît Delhomme is terrific, making the stunning backdrop of Cambridge and the University, wonderful supporting characters.  And it's much easier to notice a bad score than a good one, but Jóhann Jóhannsson has also done an admirable job. The music is quiet, emotional and rousing in all the right places and is a perfect accompaniment to the action.

All three are cleverly woven to allow the main characters, Eddie Redmayne playing Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones as Jane Hawking,  to shine like stars and shine they do.  Brightly circling each other from their first meeting, they bring the screen alive.  Charming and geeky, Hawking's first encounter with Jane at a university gathering in 1963 sees them talking all night about equations.  He excitedly tells her he believes there is one simple, elegant but elusive equation that explains everything in the universe and when she asks "what's the equation?" he replies "I'm not quite sure but I intend to find out".  The one equation that mattered that evening is Jane's phone number, which she gives him at the end of the evening.

Their next significant meeting sees them at the end of year University ball.  By the end of the night, scientist had fallen in love with artist as they danced under the stars.

Taken by his Professor to the lab where the ground work was done on splitting the atom, he immediately feels at home and sets to work, trying to find the equation that will prove the simple theory of everything.  It seems his life is mapped out in the stars.

A clumsy fall, hospital tests, a diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease and a life expectancy of two years suddenly turn his world upside down.   With his own mortality staring him in the face, he realises the subject for his research will be time.  He sets to work on his equation.  Telling him she loves him and that they should be married and spend whatever time he has left, together, he tells Jane she has "leapt to a false conclusion".   To Jane, it's the only conclusion that makes sense. 

Somewhat underplayed in the movie, it's easy to underestimate what Stephen Hawking did in his field.  He turned the science behind black holes and our understanding of time, on its head.  

Redmayne, who is already tipped for an Oscar nomination, portrays Hawking's illness and deterioration brilliantly.  It's easy to forget it's real. The suffering, determination and brutality of Motor Neurone Disease are real and Hawking has experienced every last scene.  

All the while Jane loves him anyway.  She loves who he is, who he is becoming and who he will be. 

The years pass quickly, three children are born, significant others are added to the equation, their marriage breaks down and yet, the Hawkings always work it out.  

Hawking believes that quantum physics and the physics of relativity don't understand each other because they don't speak the same language.  His lifelong search for the simple, elegant equation is about seeking to understand and be understood.   

I believe he's found an answer.  It may not be the answer he's been looking for, but in the most fascinating and beautiful journey, Stephen and Jane Hawking have proved the theory of everything is simply and elegantly, love. 

I'm reminded of the magnificent movie Interstellar, which also shared themes of space, time, science and relationships, with love at its heart.   Sometimes the truth can be as magical and groundbreaking as fiction.  The Theory of Everything is a triumph. 

Happy, happy birthday Professor Hawking.  And thank you for the theory of everything.

A voyage into the unknown..

I recently spent a lovely afternoon in a local independent cinema, in the company of Professor Stephen Hawking.  Him on screen and me in the audience. He is an intellectual giant and has been partly responsible for bringing the universe ever closer to lay people like me.  His book, A Brief History of Time, has sold a staggering 10 million copies.  On watching his autobiographical documentary, something struck me.  We were all too often reminded of the limitations of Professor Hawking's body, but never his mind or his spirit. Diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at 21 and told he would likely live only a few more years, he went on to achieve true greatness in his field and still goes to work every day.  At 71, he enjoys nothing more than supervising the next generation of cosmologists, who carry on his work, hoping to find the answers to some of our biggest questions.  But what are the questions?

  

India's recent entry into the space programme is interesting.  There are convincing arguments for science and progress but I wonder how we feel about a country who receive international aid and spend money on space travel, when a huge percentage of their population have neither electricity nor a private toilet.  But wouldn't a country, poverty stricken or not, be doomed if it couldn't aspire to be part of humankind's journey of exploration?

 

Hawking has obviously tapped in to something - our fascination with space. Is it space we want to explore, or is space a means to an end? 

 

As we reach ever further into the cosmos, to boldy go where no-one else has been, I wonder what is at the heart of our search? Even Professor Hawking, revered by millions and never short of adoring fans hanging on his every word, admits to being lonely. 

 

And then I happened upon this wonderful story.  The story of the Voyager space project and the Golden Record.  I believe our search - individually and as a highly evolved people - is to connect with fellow travellers.  Nothing more and nothing less.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV3UI8x5NTk