Questions for Hawking
The New York Times has a (relatively) brief interview with Stephen Hawking. Ridiculously titled “The Science of Second-Guessing”, there are some interesting answers. Recall that Hawking, a brilliant physicist, suffers from motor-neuron disease, and is confined to a wheelchair, able to talk only through a computer which he controls by a single button in his hand. As such, composing answers is very slow, which is reflected in the interview - his answers are short, sweet and to the point.
He dismisses the importance of I.Q. (”People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”, although he does hope that he is “near the upper end of the range” of intellects!) and I thought his answer to “What is the most important physics idea this year?” was particularly sensible: “We won’t know for a few years.” Although we would love to be able to announce that so-and-so’s theory is revolutionising physics, etc, it generally takes a few years for scientists to fully debate the correctness, worth and implications of a proposed theory. And it may take many more years again before it true impact is observed - just think of the laser! And nowhere is this more obvious than in the awarding of the Nobel prizes, usually many years after the theory’s first publication.