Oskar Klein Medal 355
Osmington Mills, Dorset, holidays 46
Overbye, Dennis 163
Oxford University
University College 52–61
Boat Club 57–9, 60
SWH’s viva 60
SWH parents and 42–3
p-branes, brane theory 327–9
and inflation 372
and M-theory 347–8, 414
Page, Don 136, 156, 166, 350
and A Brief History of Time, print errors 238
and SWH communication 140–1
and arrows of time 226, 300–1
as graduate assistant 154
at Caltech 146–7
NATO fellowship 154
on God and no-boundary proposal 218–19
religious faith 154
Palestinians, SWH and 371
panspermia theory 397
particles, elementary 38, 59, 65, 187–8, 205–15, 375, 454g
and black holes 103–5, 102f5.5
and wormholes 253–5
particle/antiparticle pairs 33–4, 119–25, 168–9, 197, 252–3, 257, 328, 386, 409–10, 454g
spin 159–60
sums-over-histories 205–9
supersymmetry 159–60
see also specific particles
Pasadena Town and Country School 144–5
Paul Dirac Medal 237
Paul VI, Pope 147
Penrose, Roger
and cyclical model 355
and information paradox 362
cosmic censorship conjecture 313
on black holes 103–5, 113
on Hawking radiation 125–6
on singularities & black holes 79, 81, 85, 90, 105, 106
on SWH’s 60th 351
with SWH, The Nature of Space and Time 310–11, 314, 316
Penzias, Arno, and CMBR 180–1
People Magazine 292
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics 394
Perlmutter, Saul, universe expansion accelerating 314–16
Perse School 133, 162, 224
Perse School for Girls 224
phase transition 186–8, 222
Philo of Alexandria 175
photinos 160
photons 21, 36–9, 454g
and escape velocity 98–105
and spacetime warp 96–7
at event horizon 113
movement/speeds 209–12, 212f10.8, 214
spin 159–60
physical universe laws 425–8
Physical Review 369
physics as fun 269
Physics Letters 193
Pink Floyd, The Division Bell 293
Pippard, Sir Brian, on speculation outside one’s field 345
Planck, Max
Planck length 454g
quantum distance 167
Planck satellite, CMBR observations 401, 405, 408
planetary orbits 96
Planetary Society of Pasadena 399
Plato, and dimension 327–8
Platonism 311
Polchinski, Joe, on string theory equations 374
Polge, Christopher 244
politicians, SWH on 368
pollution, SWH on 379
Pontifical Academy of Sciences 237
Pope Pius XII medal 147
population dangers 316
positrons 454g
Large Electron Positron (LEP) experiment 389
see also electrons; particles
Powney, Derek 55, 56, 60, 73
prediction 25
and detail 34–6
Preskill, John
and information paradox 359, 362–3
cosmic censorship bet 313
Prigogine, Ilya 172n
primordial black hole 454–5g
Princeton University, WMAP 353n
protons 20–1, 36–9, 301, 455g
see also particles
psychological arrow of time 455g
publishers, and A Brief History of Time 225–6
pulsars 31, 455g
Pythagoras 18, 413
Pythagoreans 327
quantum fluctuations 250–5, 455g
quantum gravity 97–8, 160, 362, 455g
Euclidean 296
quantum mechanics 32–9, 455g
of black holes 117–24
quantum theory
and Big Bang singularity 196–8
and information paradox 166–73
see also uncertainty principle
quantum variables 255
quantum wormholes 211, 250–62, 435–7, 455g
quarks 20, 36–40, 455g
quasars, and Big Bang theory 181
quintessence 315–16
radio waves 456g
radioactivity 22, 456g
Radlett school 49
realism
model-dependent 421–5, 432–4, 441–2
model-independent 310–11
Rees, Martin J.
and anthropic principle 376
and SWH nursing assistance 158, 228
on Hawking radiation 125
on SWH’s 60th 351
relativity see under Einstein
renormalization 33, 406, 456g
repulsive force 315
Rocek, Martin, graduate assistent 165
Rockefeller Institute banquet 240–1
Royal Opera House Covent Garden 137
Royal Society 141
A Brief History of Time launch 238
Copley Medal 371
Hughes Medal 157
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 355
Rutherford, Ernest 14
atom model 36, 37f2.1, 197
Rutherford–Appleton Laboratory, Second Quantum Gravity Conference 126
Sagan, Carl, Contact 261
Santiago de Compostela University, Fonseca Prize 385–6
Schickel, Richard, on film 281
Schmidt, Brian, universe expansion accelerating 315
Schramm, David 308
Sciama, Denis 63, 80, 85, 118
and SWH dissertation 69
and SWH fellowships 88
and SWH physical therapy funding 86
lecture series 367
on attitudes to cosmology 65
on Hawking radiation 125, 127
scientific determinism 170–3, 420–1
second law of thermodynamics 456g
selectrons 160
Sellers, Piers (astronaut) 371
shadow brane worlds 335–7
Shatner, William, and Virgin Galactic 381
Shearer, Neel 352
Shuhmaher, Natalia, on inflation theory, and brane world models 372
Simes, Karen 331
Simpsons, The, SWH and 317, 369
Singer, Alex 293
singularities 79, 105, 106, 111–12, 456g
naked 312–14, 453g
smearing out, uncertainty principle 167–8, 197–8, 205, 209–16
Smithsonian Institution, ‘Stephen Hawking’s Alternate Universe’ 366–7
Smoot, George, on CMBR ripples 290, 353
smoothness problem 182, 183–9
solar mass 456g
South Kensington museums 45
South Pole, Degree Angular Scale Interferometer 353
Southwood, David, on ESA Planck satellite observations 401
space
colonization, SWH on 344–5, 381–2, 396–8
particles/antiparticles in 34
spacetime 198–209, 200–6f10.1–6, 208f10.7, 456g
Caitlin example 199–203
curvature 29, 34, 456g
dimensions, M-theory 348–9, 414–20
fluctuations 211–15, 213f10.9
warp 95–7, 96f5.1
spacetime diagrams 200ff
speech synthesizer, Equalizer program 229–34, 235, 238–9
Spielberg, Steven, and film, A Brief History of Time 278–82
spin, particles 159–60
Spiner, Brent 293
squares of
negative numbers 209
squarks 160
St Albans, Hawking family home 45–54, 69
St Albans High School for Girls 48–9
St Albans School 49–53
St Bartholomew’s Hospital (Bart’s) 66
Stanford Linear Accelerator 184
Star Trek
and computer viruses as life 295–6
SWH cameo 292–4
SWH on 367
Starobinsky, Alexander, on black holes radiation 118, 126–7
stars, collapsing 98–105, 101f5.4
Steady State theory 63–4, 78, 179–80, 181–2
Steinhardt, Paul, inflation theory 194
stem cell research, SWH on 368
Stengers, Isobel 172n
Stephen Hawking Garden for Motor Neurone Disease 400
Stephen Hawking’s Universe 312, 434–40
Sternberg Astronomy Insitute Moscow 191
Strauss, Richard, Also Sprach Zarathustra 395–6
string theory/theories
and ADS-CFT duality 373–4
and holographic principle 305–6
and multiverse inflation 327
as M-theory approximations 414
curling (compactification) issues 373, 374–5, 414–20
equations solutions 374
strings as p-branes 347–9
see also superstring theories
Strominger, Andrew, and p-branes 329
strong nuclear force 22, 36, 456–7g
student facilities, severely disabled people 248
subjective arrow of time 298
sums-over-histories 147, 411, 416
and M-theory 416, 417–20
and information paradox 369–70
and no-boundary-proposal 369, 416, 417–18
elementary particles 205–9
Sundance Festival 281
Sunday Times 389, 390
supercooling 187–8, 222
superforce 187
supergravity 16, 33, 159, 257
and superstring theories 347–9
as M-theory approximation 414
Supernova Cosmology Project 314–15
supernovae 176, 314, 457g
superstring theories 28, 33, 259–60, 412, 457g
and supergravity 347–9
and Theory of Everything 276–7
see also string theories
supersymmetry 159–62, 426, 428
hopes for LHC confirmation 390
supersymmetric partners 160–1, 390
symmetry-breaking 161, 185–9, 192–5, 297–8
Susskind, Leonard 164
and SWH’s information paradox 169–73, 302, 329, 357–63
holographic principle 304–6, 337
on horizon complementarity 303–6
on SWH’s 60th 351
The Black Hole War 166
Tahta, Mr 52
Taylor, John, chronophage clock 392–3
Taylor, John G. 126
Texas Symposium of Relativistic Astrophysics 1970 116
Thatcher, Margaret 155
theories 25–30
testability 29
Theory of Everything 15–17, 18–20, 23–5, 260, 276–7, 457g
complexities 411–14
inaccessibility 346–7
M-theory see M-theory
requirements 30–2
thermodynamic arrow of time 298, 457g
thermodynamics, laws of 115–16
second law see entropy
33 Variations (play) 444
Thomson, J. J. 14
Thorlacius, Lárus, and horizon complementarity 303
Thorne, Kip 81, 118, 126–7, 132, 141, 143–4
and information paradox 359, 362–3
bet about Cygnus X–1 black hole 148–51, 249–50
cosmic censorship bet 313
gravity waves laser interferometry 402–5
‘KipFest’ 325
on black hole research 91
on gravitational wave detectors 351–2
on Maldacena and Susskind 357
on minute black holes 170
on SWH 228–9, 235
mental calculations 112, 127, 132
research attitude 163, 173
work methods change 347
on wormhole time travel 261–2
time
arrows see arrows of time
boundaries 108–9
imaginary 209, 214–15, 220–1, 453g
baby universes in 250, 259–60
symmetrical laws 297–8
time eater clock 391–3
time machines, wormholes not 260–2
top-down approach, 370, 376–7, 418–20, 425–6, 430, 432
Townsend, Peter, p-brane theory 327, 347
Transworld, and A Brief History of Time 225–6
Turok, Neil 385
and cyclical model 355
at Perimeter Institute 394
cyclic universe models 375–6
inflation/open universe theory 321
instanton (‘pea’) theory 319–23, 375–6
on SWH’s 60th 351
Tutu, Archbishop Desmond 324
Uglum, John, and horizon complementarity 303
uncertainty principle, quantum mechanics 32–4, 36–9, 171–2, 457g
and Big Bang singularity 197–8, 209–20
and field measurement 119–20
and Hawking radiation 386
and quantum level fuzziness 250
and spacetime fluctuations 209–14, 213f10.9
and superstring theory 259–60
smearing out 167–8, 197–8, 207, 209–16
unified theory 22, 24–5, 457g
see also Theory of Everything
universe
anthropic principle 176–9
beginning as singularity 106, 109–12
boundary conditions 23–5
no-boundary condition 418–20
closed, no-boundary proposal 319–23
expanding 51, 89–91
acceleration observed 314–16
Friedmann model 106–12
finite and unbounded 215–19
flat prediction (inflation theory) 314–16, 319–20, 400–1
infinite 107–12
instanton (‘pea’) theory 320–3, 375–6
inflation models
eternal 405–7
non-eternal 406–7
multiple
alternative 416–17
baby 250–60, 262, 375
self-reproducing 284
multiverse in M-theory 284, 428–30
and curled-up dimensions 374–5
and eternal inflation 327, 408ff
observable evidence from 405–8
observation and 178–9, 417
quantum level prediction 171–2
static 107
see also specific phenomena and theories
vacuum energy 355, 457g
vacuum, true/false 185–6
Vafa, Cumrun, and p-branes 329
Vatican conference 1981 174
velocity 457–8g
see also escape velocity
Vilenkin, Alexander
and anthropic principle 322
chaotic inflation theory 284–6
Virgin Galactic 381
virtual particle 458g
virus dangers 344
W bosons 36, 458g
spin 159–60
Wagner, Richard, music, SWH and 45, 68, 73, 75, 81, 226, 308, 319, 444
Wallace Collection 73
Walters, Ian, SWH bust 444
wave function, no-boundary 406–7, 458g
wavelength 458g
weak nuclear force 22, 36, 458g
Wenham, Michael 443
Westfield College 69, 73, 76
wheelchair access campaigns 136–7
Wheeler, John A. 79, 115, 116, 148–9
on anthropic principle 178
on black holes 104
on boundaries 445
on gravity 91
on Hawking radiation 127
on photon information 167
on quantum wormholes 250
on singularities & black holes 90
on unified theory 31, 413
no hair theorem 360
poem 31
Whitt, Brian, and A Brief History of Time 229, 235–6
Wilde, Jane see Hawking, Jane
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 253–5, 372
CMBR temperature fluctuations discoveries 388, 400–5
mission end 400
Wilson, Robert, and CMBR 180, 181, 189
Wolf Foundation of Israel 244, 269
Woltosz, Walt, Equalizer program 229–34
Words+ Infrared/Sound/Touch (IST) switch 370–1
world-lines 199–212, 214
wormhole theory 29, 250–62, 435–7, 458g
and Theory of Everything 276–7
time travel 260–2
X-ray detectors, search for black holes in binaries 149–50
Z bosons 36, 159–60
Zel’dovich, Yakov Borisovich on black holes radiation 118, 126–7
search for black holes in binaries 148–50
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 239
Zero Gravity company, flights 383–4
About the Author
Kitty Ferguson first became acquainted with Stephen Hawking and his family when she and her husband and children lived in Cambridge in the late 1980s. Around that time she retired from her career as a professional singer and conductor and began writing and lecturing about science and scientists for readers and audiences with little or no scientific background. Her seven books have appeared to critical acclaim all over the world, in twenty-seven languages. In 2000 she worked with Hawking, helping edit his book The Universe in a Nutshell.
Kitty grew up in San Antonio, Texas, moved to New York City at the age of nineteen to study at the Juilliard School of Music, and lived for forty-eight years in New York City and Chester, New Jersey. She and her husband now divide their time between Cambridge and South Carolina. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.
Visit Kitty’s website at www.kitty-ferguson.com
Also by Kitty Ferguson
BLACK HOLES IN SPACETIME
THE FIRE IN THE EQUATIONS: SCIENCE,
RELIGION & THE SEARCH FOR GOD
PRISONS OF LIGHT: BLACK HOLES
MEASURING THE UNIVERSE:
THE HISTORICAL QUEST TO QUANTIFY SPACE
STEPHEN HAWKING: QUEST FOR A
THEORY OF EVERYTHING (1991 and 2001)
THE NOBLEMAN AND HIS HOUSEDOG:
TYCHO AND KEPLER – THE UNLIKELY PARTNERSHIP
THAT FOREVER CHANGED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HEAVENS
THE MUSIC OF PYTHAGORAS (2008)