Stephen Hawking's Notable Speeches & Lectures

From his BBC Reith Lectures on black holes to his TED talk on the origin of the universe, a guide to Stephen Hawking's most notable public lectures and what each one covered.

Stephen Hawking was one of the great public lecturers of his time, despite the immense effort each talk required through his speech synthesiser. His lectures filled halls worldwide and reached millions more on television and online. Here are some of the most notable.

The BBC Reith Lectures (2016)

Perhaps his most significant broadcast lectures, Hawking delivered the BBC's prestigious annual Reith Lectures in 2016, on the subject of black holes. In them he explained, for a general audience, the puzzle of what happens to information that falls into a black hole, the information paradox, and offered his characteristic blend of deep physics and dry wit. They remain an accessible introduction to his life's central question.

His TED talk: "Questioning the Universe" (2008)

In a widely viewed TED talk, Hawking addressed the biggest questions: how the universe began, whether we are alone, and how humanity should face its future. Delivered in his measured synthesised voice, it distilled decades of thought into a few powerful minutes and introduced his ideas to a vast online audience.

Lectures on the origin of the universe

Throughout his career Hawking gave celebrated public lectures on the origin and fate of the cosmos, including talks built around the no-boundary proposal he developed with James Hartle. He had a gift for making the most abstract cosmology feel vivid, often closing with reflections on humanity's place in the universe.

The 2012 Paralympic Games

Not a lecture in the academic sense, but one of his most-watched public appearances: at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Hawking addressed a global audience, urging everyone to look up at the stars and be curious. It captured his role as an ambassador for science and for human possibility, themes explored in his activism and public life.

Where to find them

Many of Hawking's lectures, including the Reith Lectures and his TED talk, remain available through the BBC, the TED archive and other public broadcasters. They are among the best ways to encounter him in his own words; for the written equivalent, his books and the quotations archive are the place to start.