Hawking at the EIFF

He's one of the most successful and controversial physicists working today - and on top of that he's a world famous celebrity and one of the first to 'popularise' science. 

Stephanie Jewitt and Eleanor Spring got the brilliant opportunity to see the new documentary ‘Hawking’ at the EIFF. The film takes you from his birth in 1942 to the present day.

Eleanor talks about the documentary itself.

Guest starring on The Simsons in 1999
Picture source: Telegraph

Stephen Hawking’s work as a physicist has both shocked and divided the world of academia. But that is far from being the only remarkable thing about Stephen Hawking. He was one of the first to write a popular book about science for a general audience. He has become an international celebrity, making cameo roles in TV shows from Star Trek to The Simpsons, and delivering sell out public appearances across the globe. He has been married twice and has fathered three children. He’s even been promised a free ticket to space with the Virgin Galactic mission (the only person to have been so). And before he achieved any of this, fifty years ago he was diagnosed with ALS and was given two years to live. He hasn’t walked in almost half a century, and yet he continues to astound and inspire millions of people around the world.

Hawking with his wife Jane Wilde at their wedding in 1965
Picture source: Telegraph

‘Hawking’ doesn’t aim to explain his work – it isn’t a physics documentary, and it wasn’t meant to be. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director, Stephen Finnigan, and he managed to call ‘physicists’ ‘physicians’ twice! He made no pretence of understanding the science. Instead he documented the life of Hawking, and tried to provide a genuine insight into his world.

Finnigan worked closely with Hawking throughout the creation of the film, and it shows. The film is full of candid interviews with both the man himself and significant people in his life, most notably his first wife, Jane Wilde, his sister Mary, and one of his closest students, Bernard Carr. There are plenty of humorous insights into his life, and some surprisingly personal footage of Hawking in the care of his nurses, and as he learns how to use a new speech recognition system. His sharp sense of humour is a strong presence throughout the film. Despite his critical disability, he can still smile, and his eyes never lose their sharp focus and twinkle. But though it’s never made explicit, there is an allusion to the darkness and the difficulty that both his illness and his celebrity have meant for both himself and his family.

Hawking experiences zero gravity in 2007
Picture source: Telegraph

This documentary is also full of people that are conspicuous by their absence. Celebrity has a flip side, and Hawking’s personal life has been as highly scrutinised as that of any public figure. His second wife, whom he both met and divorced in controversial circumstances, does not appear, and neither do any of his children – though they are mentioned in nothing but a positive light. Whilst this could be interpreted as an attempt to hide any unpleasantness, it does simply have to be acknowledged that fame is often hardest for those around the celebrity. Hawking has caught the public’s interest in an entirely unique way, and this has quite evidently had repercussions on his private life. Even so, both he and his family should be entitled to their dignity and their peace, and the filmmakers obviously intended to honour that. This isn’t a juicy expose of everything you read in the tabloids. 

Even so, there is no shortage of anecdotes, quotes, photographs and interviews with celebrities from Benedict Cumberbatch to Buzz Aldrin. The film begins with a tantalising quote from Hawking: "Welcome to my world". Starting with Hawking’s childhood, through his schooling, university years, the diagnosis of his illness, his marriages and his work, the film gives a glimpse into the life of this remarkable man.

Want to know more about the Hawking’s contribution to physics?

Stephanie considers his work and its legacy today.

Stephen Hawking has over a dozen honorary degrees, a CBE, and has held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge since 1979, the chair that was once held by Isaac Newton. He is regarded as one of the most eminent theoretical physicists of the 20th century and has devised ground-breaking theories on both the origins of the Universe and the formation of black holes. In the 1960’s Hawking proposed the controversial theory that the Universe began as a singularity, which is a point in space which has infinite density and no volume. Under these conditions the laws of physics break down. He presented mathematical theorems that extended the Big Bang theory, which were received with everything from astonishment to outrage, as they ruled out the need for a Creator.  To this day he receives bundles of what his assistants call ‘The God Letters’, from upset or enlightened believers giving him a piece of their mind.

What would Hawking Radiation 'look' like?
Source: news.discovery.com

He also developed another contentious theory proposing the death of the black hole. He found that black holes continually emit a type of radiation or light, which was later dubbed ‘Hawking Radiation’, implying that they could exhaust all their energy and eventually evaporate. This seemed to contradict the very definition of a black hole as a region of space from which nothing can escape. Supposedly, nothing that passes within the boundary called the ‘event horizon’ can escape the black hole’s immense gravitational pull. This includes light (hence the term black hole) and all other forms of radiation, yet Hawking’s equations show something different.  Close to the event horizon thermal radiation can be emitted due to the black hole having a discernible (but extremely low) temperature. Though received with scepticism at first, his theory became widely accepted in the scientific community and it led to him becoming one of the youngest fellows of the Royal Society, at the age of 32.

Source: Google Images

As well as publishing numerous scientific papers he has written internationally best-selling popular science books, including ‘A Brief History of Time’ and ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’. These books explain the physics behind some of the most fundamental theories of the Universe and our existence, to a general audience.

In the documentary Stephen’s publisher mentions his desire for ‘A Brief History’ to become a best-selling airport novel, and to the disbelief of many, he succeeded.

Hawking will be released at cinemas around the UK on 20th September.

Want to know more about Stephan Hawking and his work? There are a huge range of TV series, documentaries, films, articles and books available. There is also a dramatized account of his life by the same title, released in 2004, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.