Big Bang day !!

[TimberWolf]

I'm assuming your attack on Hawking is part of the British culture of feeling superior only when you're putting someone else down.

Hawking is the current Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge and has held this post since 1980, long before the current media circus jumped on the bandwagon. Have a look at the previous holders of the post, I think you'll find some esteemed names there, unless maybe they were just other guys who came up with 'things which may or may not be true'.

I'm aware of his position at Cambridge, and I don't rate him against many of those greats. Look at the list yourself. Dirac, Newton, Babbage... Do you really think Hawking in the same league? What has he done aside from being in the right place at the right time in order to theorise on things that someone else would likely have done quite soon anyway?

[sasguru]

I'm aware of his position at Cambridge, and I don't rate him against many of those greats. Look at the list yourself. Dirac, Newton, Babbage... Do you really think Hawking in the same league? What has he done aside from being in the right place at the right time in order to theorise on things that someone else would likely have done quite soon anyway?

I read "A Brief History of Time" when it came out in the 80s. It is dense and impenetrable compared to some of the more popular science books.
I think it was this book that propelled him to fame + his disability.
I'm not sure what original research he has carried out, but I think you're right, it's not as ground-breaking as previous holders of the position.

[ThomasSoerensen]

Do you think he keeps the Speak & Spell switched on ?

[TimberWolf]

I read "A Brief History of Time" when it came out in the 80s. It is dense and impenetrable compared to some of the more recent works.
I think it was this book that propelled him to fame + his disability.
I'm not sure what original research he has carried out, but I think you're right it's not as ground-breaking as previous holders of the position.

Strange, I read the book and I thought it was carp. I know everyone else goes on about how good it is though, and that it was a best seller. I don't remember much about its content now though. Unfortunately in my wanting to put Hawking more in his rightful place it sounds as if I am saying he is a dunce, which isn't true. He is more in-between a dunce and a genius IMO

[ace00]

BTW particles will be at 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light.
That's really impressive.
What will happen to their mass at that velocity?

[BrilloPad]

BTW particles will be at 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light.
That's really impressive.
What will happen to their mass at that velocity?

It will be big enough to cause global warming.

HTH

[moorfield]

BTW particles will be at 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light.
That's really impressive.
What will happen to their mass at that velocity?

They get so very heavy that the Earth might wobble off its orbit.

Apparently.

[scooterscot]

BTW particles will be at 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light.
That's really impressive.
What will happen to their mass at that velocity?

Hopefully the mass will increase enough to allow the higgs field to be identified once and for all.

[expat]

Going back to Einstiens general theory of realitivity, it wasn't supported by evidence until Irwin Shapiro concucted his tests at the MIT with the Haystack antenna in the 60's which was the point I was getting across.

Not so, the results of Eddington's eclipse expedition of 1919 supported it.

[sasguru]

Not so, the results of Eddington's eclipse expedition of 1919 supported it.

It's Ok. He doesn't really know what he's talking about - just random googling and cut'n'paste