• Question: Have you seen the theory of everything? It is awesome.

    • Keywords:
      • Search for related information:
      Asked by Olivia to Chris on 11 Mar 2016.
      • Photo: Christopher Blanford

        Christopher Blanford answered on 11 Mar 2016:

        Hi Olivia

        I wondered if you’d follow up on the Stephen Hawking bit.

        I’d heard about the film, first when it came out, then after Eddie Redmayne got the Oscar. I haven’t seen it though.

        I usually watch more juvenile films, when I can. I still like cartoons (true!).

        If it weren’t such crazy during the chat, I would have asked what you thought about Hawking’s personal life and whether that changed your opinion of him as a physicist.

        I have talked with my colleagues about another pair of scientists: Gilbert N. Lewis was a hugely influential scientist who came up with a famous model for atomic bonding and a lot more, but he never won a Nobel prize. Irving Langmuir was a famous surface scientist at the same time who won a Nobel prize. Lewis killed himself, and some people think it’s because of an argument with Langmuir. Do we need to think differently about these guys’ work because of their personal lives, and the choices they made? It’s tricky.

        Chris

    Comments