Ms. Hawking, on 14. March died and her father, Stephen, now his latest book “Short answers to big questions”. It reads like his legacy to mankind, almost as a Testament.
The book actually touches all of the areas that we have discussed earlier, also at home. And it touches all of the areas in which my father in the last 30 years, has researched. It seems to me to be enormously welcoming and familiar. To read it is now time for me was like a continuation of our conversations.
It is Riding a scientific and philosophical tour de force. He writes about time travel, the threat to our planet, artificial intelligence and, not least, about the Non-existence of God. Each Chapter ends with an almost optimistic Outlook. Was your father an optimistic person?
And how. He was optimistic and believed with Conviction to the people and the ingenuity of mankind. His great hope lay in the youth, who, he was convinced, much more is to come as we will today, and the next step. Our children, that was his opinion, to find solutions for the things we fail today. This, however, requires education. Education was to him the most Important thing.
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Stephen and Lucy Hawking at a joint lecture in April 2008 at the George Washington University on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Nasa. Topic: “Why we should travel to space”.
©Jim Watson/AFP
We know him primarily as a scientist. What a man Stephen Hawking?
I always saw him as a Showman in memory. He loved the Entertainment and show business. He was also a very humble man. Sometimes he wondered if his statements ended up on the front pages of the Newspapers, because, first and foremost he thought of himself as a physicist from Cambridge.
One of the most influential and popular figures of the century, wondered about its effect?
Oh, Yes, he would have been overwhelmed by the worldwide sympathy for his death. Maybe he would have been amused. Because he had a great sense of Humor. He listened, sometimes, our discussions and summed up with three, four words. Very dry, very British, but also challenging. We collapsed on a regular basis before Laughing.
An example please.
It happened again and again, that it was bad and even very bad. Then my brother from America came flying, but he was already sitting back at the table, ate poached eggs, looked at my brother and asked, as though nothing had happened: “What are you doing here? You didn’t want to in the holiday? I’m good. Actually, you can fly again.” To me many of such episodes.
Just to tell you.
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Stephen Hawking: “Short answers to big questions”, Klett-Cotta-Verlag, 240 pages, 20 Euro
©Klett-Cotta
years Ago, I accompanied my father to a lecture to Moscow, the times of the Cold war, in 1984. At the time I was 13 or 14. And the father spake, before the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He used often metaphors, and thereby the simultaneous translator completely to despair. You didn’t know this type of language, she shook her head again and again. As he said one should imagine the universe as a gigantic Plumbing, tore out the earpiece from his head and stormed off. It was hilarious.
he Felt a desire to be a political provocation? He unbuttoned like Donald Trump.
Trump, of course. And the Brexit. As our Prime Minister Theresa May two years ago, handed over the award for his life’s work, he said: “thank you, I’ve worked all my life to very complex things. But please don’t ask me if I can help you with Brexit. That would be even too much for me.”
the Brexit surprised?
Yes. We were all in shock when this happened. My father was a cosmopolitan. He had no understanding.
Let his merits speak. What matters to you the most?
This does not fit into a set, maybe not in a reply. He made not only these groundbreaking discoveries about time and space, but managed to explain to a wide audience is quite entertaining. And he was one of the First to work with severe disabilities – and not only that: He let his disabilities do not hinder. Until his death he was employed at the University. This would have been for a healthy Person is exceptional, for him even more.
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Lucy Hawking studied French and Russian at Oxford and journalism in London
©Andrea Artz/star
you work as a journalist and writer and have written children’s books together with her father. How was the cooperation?
That was at the beginning of almost intimidating for me, because I entered his world. I had the people and the action in the head. And he has the Expertise. It was to bring one of the most difficult scientific areas in the Vegabet most easily consumable Form, to make so understandable for children. That was for both of us. My father had never written fiction and dialogues, and characters developed. He was fascinated by it, and at some point he also had good ideas for the plot. Once he wrote me: “I know now, as we are the boys from the black hole can get rid of …” in The end, he was happy that I brought him with things that he knew. And I think he enjoyed it also very much that I had to deal with because of the books, of course, physics.
you Have a fight?
not Argued, but discussed controversially. For example, I asked: “Can take the Kids to an alien?” And he replied: “Definitely. The people have not yet met any. Point on and off.” The basic rule was that we break the laws of physics. Father was very excited. He was worried that children might not like him. But I knew that the worry was totally unfounded.
is it True that you were at a birthday party for her son on the idea with the children’s books?
Yes, the Kids were very excited to meet my father. And when he came then and all it loopholes, asked a Boy: “What happens if I fall in a black hole?” He said: “Then would you like Spaghetti.” So I thought: Why are such things not a book? That was the Inspiration.
The private and human side was to a wide audience by the Film “The findg the infinity”. How have you experienced the daily life in the home of Hawking as a child?
Exciting it was For us, it was like in the dovecote. We had an incredible number of interesting guests. Scientists, Artists, Writers. Constantly eat was balanced on the table. Was constantly discussed. We talked really about everything: our Worries, homework, politics, existential issues, art and music, and of course science. It was intellectually sparkling. It’s been crazy.
they said that their Childhood and youth, moving between the poles of “extremely” and “extremely exceptional”.
We grew up is actually pretty normal, went to school by Bicycle. My father is not the world was at that time still famous. He was known in scientific circles, but the others were in Cambridge. What difference in us elementary to other families – especially in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s – was to see a Person in a wheelchair, surrounded by a wife and three children. The people stared at us, they stared at my father. This has bothered me very much, I would have him protected like this Look. And Cambridge, which have not yet started, is disabled-friendly.
cobbled, medieval streets …
. If you have not yet pushed anyone in a wheelchair, don’t guess, how many obstacles and hurdles there are. They can be Increased only aware of stairs, steep, obstacles. We never knew how long we would need to get from A to B. And I note today, that I examine the Dimension of the elevators and sometimes in front of me mutter: That is a good Lift or a bad Lift. Because I look at them with the eyes of a wheelchair.
her father has immensely helped to change the perception of disabled people.
It is now much better, and he was a pioneer. He worked for disabled-friendly architecture, sidewalks, elevators. But above all, to ensure that disabled people today can be successful in your career and a fulfilling life. He was a role model. I once made a documentary for BBC Radio 4. It was a synthetic language. I interviewed a Doctor in London who worked with children. She said: “most children want to have a voice like your father, so people think they are so smart.” Wonderful.
He had the Computer all of a sudden an American accent. That must have been for you and your family getting used to.
it Was at the beginning. Oops, we said, you’re an American now. Eventually, he asked if we wanted to try other voices. So we made him an Irishman, or a woman, we made him old and young. That was funny. But then he said: “no, I’ll keep this voice. It now belongs to me.”
have you even talked of a recurring dream. In this dream, her father was able to walk again.
That’s right. There is this sequence in the Film, in which he can use his legs. I was charmed of it, and the filmmakers asked if they still have more scenes of them. I would have been able to see the hours. It is an exact reflection of my dream.
you Have with him about the dream speak?
no, never. I thought it would make him sad.
Liked your father think of the Film?
Yes, he was crying almost the whole time. He said, anyway. He said but also: A bit more physics would have the movie good.
In the Film, will also be the subject of a Phase in which the family ties were suffering. Her father fell in love with his Nurse and married her.
That’s right. We then had a very different life. The work on the books brought us together finally. She was the bridge. In the three months prior to his death, I moved in with him and nursed him.
He is now for seven months dead. What do you miss most?
Him. In the first weeks and months after his death, I had the feeling that he is still there. Sometimes I went to a store and not thinking about Christmas gifts before I noticed … Yes. And last week, I was in his house, and it sounds maybe weird for you But it was so terribly empty, this earlier humming center of activity. Always full. Always. And all of a sudden, no one was there. I thought: Yes, that was it, it’s really over.
He negated the existence of God, because – as he wrote – before the big Bang no time existed, and logically, therefore, no time for a Creator. Her father could not believe in a life after death?
From a scientific perspective, he couldn’t. And I agree with his point of view. But life after death? My father said that the life after death to have the genes to his children. And his work remains immortal. He lives in it. I just looked at photos again. And what really makes me happy is, how often he smiled in these pictures. This is the facial expression, the remains of it in memory. He was at peace with himself and happy. We should not forget: My father had nine lives like a cat. But about nine thousand.
