EntityMap v1.0
A structured, entity-first index of the knowledge published at https://stephenhawking.co.uk. Machine-readable companion: entitymap.json. Spec: entitymap.org/spec/v1.0.
PersonPersonPersonPersonPersonPersonPersonOrganizationOrganizationConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptConceptPerson · e_stephen_hawking
British theoretical physicist and cosmologist (1942 to 2018). Best known for the prediction that black holes emit radiation, for the singularity theorems proved with Roger Penrose, and for the bestselling popular-science book A Brief History of Time.
Same as: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17714
“Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford on 8 January 1942 and died in Cambridge on 14 March 2018. Between those dates lies one of the most improbable lives in modern science.” The Life of Stephen Hawking — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AFFILIATED_WITH → University of CambridgeAFFILIATED_WITH → Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP)Person · e_roger_penrose
English mathematical physicist (born 1931). Hawking's long-term collaborator on the singularity theorems and the originator of much of the mathematical machinery used in the work. Awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
“Sir Roger Penrose, born in 1931, is a British mathematician and theoretical physicist and the single most important scientific collaborator of Hawking's career. A figure of extraordinary range, he has made fundamental contributions to mathematics, physics and the study of the mind.” Roger Penrose — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Person · e_dennis_sciama
British physicist (1926 to 1999). Hawking's doctoral supervisor at Cambridge and a major influence on a generation of relativists and cosmologists.
“Dennis Sciama, who lived from 1926 to 1999, was a British physicist and one of the most influential mentors in the history of cosmology. He was Stephen Hawking's doctoral supervisor at Cambridge, and his guidance came at the most critical moment of Hawking's life.” Dennis Sciama — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AFFILIATED_WITH → University of CambridgePerson · e_kip_thorne
American theoretical physicist (born 1940). Hawking's close friend and frequent betting partner on open scientific questions; shared the 2017 Nobel Prize for the detection of gravitational waves.
“Kip Thorne, born in 1940, is an American theoretical physicist and one of the world's leading authorities on the consequences of general relativity. He was a close friend of Hawking's for decades, and their relationship produced some of the most entertaining episodes in modern physics.” Kip Thorne — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Person · e_james_hartle
American theoretical physicist (1939 to 2023). With Hawking he proposed the no-boundary proposal for the quantum state of the early universe.
“James Hartle, who lived from 1939 to 2023, was an American theoretical physicist based for most of his career at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A specialist in gravitation and the foundations of quantum mechanics, he was the partner behind one of Hawking's most ambitious ideas.” James Hartle — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Person · e_jacob_bekenstein
Mexican-born Israeli-American theoretical physicist (1947 to 2015). Proposed that black holes carry entropy proportional to their horizon area, the insight that prompted Hawking's discovery of black hole radiation.
“Jacob Bekenstein, who lived from 1947 to 2015, was an Israeli-American theoretical physicist. Though he and Hawking are remembered as much for their early disagreement as for any formal collaboration, their exchange of ideas produced one of the deepest results in modern physics, and a quantity that carries both their names.” Jacob Bekenstein — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Person · e_leonard_mlodinow
American theoretical physicist and writer (born 1954). Co-author with Hawking of A Briefer History of Time (2005) and The Grand Design (2010).
“Leonard Mlodinow, born in 1954, is an American theoretical physicist and a highly successful popular-science author. He was Hawking's writing partner on two of his later books, bringing a storyteller's craft to Hawking's ideas.” Leonard Mlodinow — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Organization · e_cambridge
English research university where Hawking did his PhD and spent most of his working life, including thirty years as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge
“Stephen Hawking spent essentially his entire working life at the University of Cambridge, much of it at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Over more than forty years he rose from a doctoral student who had been told he had no future to the holder of one of the most storied chairs in science, and produced the run of discoveries that made his name.” Career & the Cambridge Years — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Organization · e_damtp
The Cambridge department where Hawking held his Lucasian Professorship and later the Dennis Stanton Avery and Sally Tsui Wong-Avery Director of Research role.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Applied_Mathematics_and_Theoretical_Physics
“Stephen Hawking spent essentially his entire working life at the University of Cambridge, much of it at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Over more than forty years he rose from a doctoral student who had been told he had no future to the holder of one of the most storied chairs in science, and produced the run of discoveries that made his name.” Career & the Cambridge Years — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
PART_OF → University of CambridgeConcept · e_hawking_radiation
The prediction, made by Stephen Hawking in 1974, that black holes are not perfectly black but slowly emit thermal radiation due to quantum effects near their event horizon, giving them a real temperature and a finite lifetime.
“Hawking radiation is the faint glow that black holes give off because of quantum effects near their edge. It means that a black hole is not perfectly black: it has a real temperature, it slowly loses mass over time, and, given long enough, it can evaporate completely. Stephen Hawking predicted it in 1974, and it is the discovery that made his name among physicists, because it was the first time anyone had shown how gravity, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics fit together in a single object.” Hawking Radiation, Explained Simply — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingPART_OF → Black hole thermodynamicsLEADS_TO → Black hole information paradox (declared)Concept · e_singularity_theorems
A set of results in general relativity, developed by Penrose and Hawking between 1965 and 1970, showing that singularities are a generic prediction of the theory under broad physical conditions, including the beginning of the universe.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose%E2%80%93Hawking_singularity_theorems
“The Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems are a set of mathematical proofs, worked out in the 1960s, showing that singularities, points where the fabric of spacetime breaks down, are not exotic accidents but a generic, unavoidable feature of Einstein's general relativity. They are the rigorous foundation beneath two of the biggest ideas in modern physics: that black holes contain singularities, and that the universe began in one.” The Penrose–Hawking Singularity Theorems — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingAUTHORED_BY → Roger PenrosePRECEDES → Hawking radiationConcept · e_information_paradox
The conflict between Hawking's prediction that black holes evaporate completely and the principle of quantum mechanics that information cannot be destroyed. One of the central open problems in theoretical physics.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox
“The black hole information paradox is, in one sentence, this: if a black hole slowly evaporates and disappears, what happens to all the information about the things that fell into it? Stephen Hawking's own discovery created the puzzle, he spent decades on the wrong side of it, and it has become one of the central unsolved problems in theoretical physics. The good news is that, after fifty years, the answer is finally coming into focus.” The Black Hole Information Paradox — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_no_boundary
A proposal, made by Hartle and Hawking in 1983, for the quantum state of the early universe in which time becomes geometrically smooth at the Big Bang, removing the need for an initial boundary condition.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartle%E2%80%93Hawking_state
“The no-boundary proposal is Stephen Hawking's boldest and most beautiful idea about the origin of the universe. Developed with the physicist James Hartle in the early 1980s, it suggests that the universe has no sharp beginning in time, no first moment, no edge that demands explanation. It is also one of his most speculative ideas, untested and still debated, and understanding it means first meeting a strange mathematical trick called imaginary time.” Imaginary Time & the No-Boundary Proposal — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingAUTHORED_BY → James HartleConcept · e_black_hole_thermodynamics
The discovery that black holes behave as thermodynamic objects, with a temperature, an entropy proportional to their horizon area, and four laws closely analogous to the laws of thermodynamics.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_thermodynamics
“One of the strangest and most beautiful discoveries in physics is that black holes obey laws that look almost exactly like the laws of thermodynamics, the science of heat, energy and disorder. This correspondence, black hole thermodynamics, sits at the very centre of Hawking's legacy.” Black Hole Thermodynamics — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingAUTHORED_BY → Jacob BekensteinConcept · e_area_theorem
Hawking's 1971 result that the total area of black hole event horizons in classical general relativity cannot decrease, a precursor to the identification of horizon area with entropy.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Area_theorem
“Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself, set off when very massive objects accelerate violently, such as two black holes spiralling into each other. As the waves pass, they stretch and squeeze space by a tiny amount. They were among the last major predictions of Einstein's general relativity to be confirmed, and their discovery opened an entirely new way of observing the universe.” Gravitational Waves — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingPRECEDES → Black hole thermodynamicsConcept · e_event_horizon
The boundary of a black hole, the surface beyond which nothing can return to the outside universe. Central to general relativity and to Hawking's work on black hole thermodynamics.
“The event horizon is the boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing can escape, not even light. It is not a physical surface you could touch, but a one-way line in space: cross it, and every possible path leads inward, toward the centre. From outside, the event horizon is the closest thing a black hole has to an edge.” Event Horizon — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Concept · e_chronology_protection
Hawking's 1992 conjecture that the laws of physics conspire to prevent time travel into the past at macroscopic scales, keeping the universe 'safe for historians'.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_protection_conjecture
“Stephen Hawking found time travel a serious and irresistible question, and his answer was nuanced: travelling forwards in time is real and proven, while travelling backwards is probably forbidden by the laws of physics, though he could not entirely rule it out.” What Did Stephen Hawking Think About Time Travel? — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_soft_hair
A 2016 proposal by Hawking, Perry and Strominger that black holes carry low-energy 'soft' particles on their horizon that may preserve information lost in evaporation.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_hair_(theoretical_physics)
“The black hole information paradox is, in one sentence, this: if a black hole slowly evaporates and disappears, what happens to all the information about the things that fell into it? Stephen Hawking's own discovery created the puzzle, he spent decades on the wrong side of it, and it has become one of the central unsolved problems in theoretical physics. The good news is that, after fifty years, the answer is finally coming into focus.” The Black Hole Information Paradox — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_lucasian
A prestigious mathematical chair at the University of Cambridge, established in 1663. Hawking held the chair from 1979 to 2009; earlier holders include Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Paul Dirac.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucasian_Professor_of_Mathematics
“Stephen Hawking spent essentially his entire working life at the University of Cambridge, much of it at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Over more than forty years he rose from a doctoral student who had been told he had no future to the holder of one of the most storied chairs in science, and produced the run of discoveries that made his name.” Career & the Cambridge Years — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
PART_OF → University of CambridgeConcept · e_brief_history
Hawking's 1988 bestselling popular-science book on cosmology, black holes and the origin of the universe. It spent more than four years on the Sunday Times bestseller list and made him a global celebrity.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Time
“It is the book that made Stephen Hawking a household name. Published in 1988, A Brief History of Time set out to explain the origin and fate of the universe to ordinary readers, and in doing so became one of the best-selling science books ever written.” A Brief History of Time — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingCOVERS → Hawking radiationCOVERS → Penrose-Hawking singularity theoremsCOVERS → Event horizonConcept · e_grand_design
Hawking and Mlodinow's 2010 book arguing that modern physics, in particular M-theory and the multiverse, can explain why the universe exists without invoking a creator.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Design_(book)
“The Grand Design, written with Leonard Mlodinow in 2010, is Hawking at his most ambitious and most controversial. It tackles the largest question of all, why there is a universe at all, and arrives at an answer that made headlines around the world.” The Grand Design — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingAUTHORED_BY → Leonard MlodinowConcept · e_universe_nutshell
Hawking's 2001 illustrated follow-up to A Brief History of Time, covering developments since 1988 including brane theory, holography and the future of the universe.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Universe_in_a_Nutshell
“Published in 2001, The Universe in a Nutshell is Hawking's richly illustrated follow-up to A Brief History of Time, and for many readers it is the more enjoyable of the two to hold and to browse.” The Universe in a Nutshell — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_brief_answers
Hawking's posthumous 2018 book of essays on the questions he was most often asked: the existence of God, the future of humanity, time travel, artificial intelligence and the fate of the universe.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brief_Answers_to_the_Big_Questions
“Published in October 2018, seven months after his death, Brief Answers to the Big Questions is Stephen Hawking's parting word. Assembled from his personal archive, speeches and essays by his family and colleagues, it gathers his considered answers to the questions he was asked most often across his life.” Brief Answers to the Big Questions — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_my_brief_history
Hawking's 2013 short autobiographical memoir, covering his childhood, his Cambridge years, his diagnosis and his life with motor neurone disease.
“My Brief History, published in 2013, is Stephen Hawking's own account of his life. At barely 120 pages it is short by any measure, and deliberately so: spare, unsentimental and direct, it is the most reliable single source for how Hawking understood his own story.” My Brief History — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
AUTHORED_BY → Stephen HawkingConcept · e_theory_of_everything_film
James Marsh's 2014 feature film dramatising Stephen and Jane Hawking's marriage, drawn from Jane's memoir Travelling to Infinity. Eddie Redmayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Everything_(2014_film)
“The Theory of Everything, released in 2014 and directed by James Marsh, is the film that introduced Stephen Hawking's life story to a vast new audience. Despite its title, it is far less about physics than about a marriage: it tells the story of Stephen and his first wife, Jane, from their meeting in Cambridge through his diagnosis and rise to fame.” The Theory of Everything (2014) — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Concept · e_brief_history_film
Errol Morris's 1991 documentary based on Hawking's bestselling book, scored by Philip Glass, blending the cosmology with portraits of Hawking, his family and his colleagues.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Time_(film)
“In 1991 the documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, then best known for The Thin Blue Line, turned his camera on Stephen Hawking. The result was A Brief History of Time, a feature-length film that takes the cosmology of Hawking's bestselling book and weaves it together with the story of the man who wrote it. More than thirty years on it remains, for many, the definitive screen portrait of Hawking.” A Brief History of Time (1991): Errol Morris's Documentary — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide
Concept · e_mnd
A progressive neurodegenerative condition that destroys motor neurones. Hawking was diagnosed in 1963 at the age of twenty-one with a slow-progressing form and lived with the disease for fifty-five years.
Same as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis
“Diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease in 1963 and told he had perhaps two years, Stephen Hawking went on to live with the condition for fifty-five, an almost unheard-of survival that doctors still cannot fully explain. The disease shaped every part of his life, and yet he never allowed it to define him.” Stephen Hawking & Motor Neurone Disease — published by The Stephen Hawking Guide