Like many physicists, I woke to some sad news early last Wednesday morning, and to a phoneful of requests from journalists for a soundbyte. In fact, although I bumped into Stephen at various conferences, I only had one significant meeting with him – he was intrigued by my research group’s discovery that Einstein once attempted a steady-state model of the universe. It was a slightly scary but very funny meeting during which his famous sense of humour was fully at play.
Yours truly talking steady-state cosmology with Stephen Hawking
I recalled the incident in a radio interview with RTE Radio 1 on Wednesday. As I say in the piece, the first words that appeared on Stephen’s screen were “I knew..” My heart sank as I assumed he was about to say “I knew about that manuscript“. But when I had recovered sufficiently to look again, what Stephen was actually saying was “I knew ..your father”. Phew! You can find the podcast here.
Hawking in conversation with my late father (LHS) and with Ernest Walton (RHS)
RTE TV had a very nice obituary on the Six One News, I have a cameo appearence a few minutes into the piece here.
In my view, few could question Hawking’s brilliant contributions to physics, or his outstanding contribution to the public awareness of science. His legacy also includes the presence of many brilliant young physicists at the University of Cambridge today. However, as I point out in a letter in today’s Irish Times, had Hawking lived in Ireland, he probably would have found it very difficult to acquire government funding for his work. Indeed, he would have found that research into the workings of the universe does not qualify as one of the “strategic research areas” identified by our national funding body, Science Foundation Ireland. I suspect the letter will provoke an angry from certain quarters, but it is tragically true.
Update
The above notwithstanding, it’s important not to overstate the importance of one scientist. Indeed, today’s Sunday Times contains a good example of the dangers of science history being written by journalists. Discussing Stephen’s 1974 work on black holes, Bryan Appleyard states “The paper in effect launched the next four decades of cutting edge physics. Odd flowers with odd names bloomed in the garden of cosmic speculation – branes, worldsheets , supersymmetry …. and, strangest of all, the colossal tree of string theory”.
What? String theory, supersymmetry and brane theory are all modern theories of particle physics (the study of the world of the very small). While these theories were used to some extent by Stephen in his research in cosmology (the study of the very large), it is ludicrous to suggest that they were launched by his work.
Antimatter 
I’m not a scientist, just a fan. Prof. Hawking has had an impact on the world that is unlike any other. You are so fortunate to have spent time with him. The world will miss him.
All that I learned of the Cosmos, I learnt from him. Through his vibrantly written books.There will never be another Stephen Hawking. The ultimate communicator of esoteric science to the common man.
For years I worked with many ‘celebrities’ in the film industry so I’m not easily impressed. However, the photo of you with Professor Hawking IS impressive!!! The world is morning the loss of a great humanitarian and visionary. Now, if we will only heed his advice as a species and start to reverse some of the damage we’ve done to our collective home–Planet Earth!