On March 14th, local time, Hawking died at his home in Cambridge at the age of 76. The news has now caused a sensation all over the world. Let's talk about the inextricable relationship between Hawking and China: he threatened to commit suicide for going to the Great Wall.

From human society to the stars in the universe, he proved the singularity theorem of general relativity and the black hole area theorem, and put forward the black hole evaporation theory and the borderless Hawking universe model. After sitting in a wheelchair for decades, he said, "even if I am locked in a shell, I still think I am the king of the infinite universe."

Hawking came to China three times: in 1985, he came to Hefei, China, and gave lectures on popular science in Beijing and Hangzhou in 22. In 26, he went to Beijing to attend the International Conference on String Theory. Last year, he also opened the Chinese Weibo as "online celebrity".

His last Weibo was posted on November 24th last year, replying to a question from TFBOYS member Karry. By the time of his death, he had sent out 2 bilingual Weibo.

He has been trying to communicate his thoughts with the whole world through popular speeches. In Hawking's eyes, human society interacts and evolves constantly, just like the vast universe.

Suicide without going to the Great Wall

In 1985, Hawking visited China for the first time. For the people of China at that time, the name Hawking was not as famous as it is today, although Hawking had already made great academic achievements at that time.

From April 28th to May 2nd, Hawking stayed in Hefei for four days and was arranged to stay at Daoxianglou Hotel, where Mao Zedong stayed. The University of Science and Technology of China is the only inviting unit, and the public report is arranged in the water lecture hall of the school. At that time, there were nearly three or four hundred lucky listeners, most of whom were young students.

Zhu Yekuang, who was in the lecture hall at that time, once recalled the scene at that time:

"Hawking entered the venue surrounded by his assistants, and he was in a wheelchair as legendary. He is wearing a tie, a neat white shirt and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his thin face. He looks quite young. There was a burst of warm applause in the hall, mixed with a little sigh.

At that time, Hawking was only 43 years old, and had just finished the first draft of A Brief History of Time. His reputation was growing continuously, but he had not yet become a popular star, so he could hardly see the reporters present or the disgusting flashing lights. The wheelchair stopped on the right side of the platform. The host said that Mr Hawking is the youngest member of the Royal Society and Professor Lucas of Cambridge University. These two titles are attractive enough for the people present. Throughout the report, Hawking's head tilted to one side, and his eyes always seemed to look at one place. "

Zhu Yekuang, a junior, remembers that in a shrinking universe, time may be reversed. "For example, in the expanding universe, the cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces, while in the shrinking universe, the pieces scattered on the ground would be" second time around "and become a perfect cup. If this comes from someone else's mouth, I will think it is an idiotic dream; But since the famous Hawking said so, I believe it. "

In fact, Hawking gave two reports at that time. One was public and the theme was "Why does time always move forward?" Another professional report is about the formation of black holes. In the 197s, "black hole" was one of the research topics of the Astrophysics Group of the University of Science and Technology of China, so HKUST invited this first-rate black hole physicist to give lectures for four years. It was only because of the specific conditions in Hefei and Hawking's physical reasons that this invitation was finally reached in 1985.

After leaving Hefei, Hawking went to Beijing again. He suddenly proposed to go to the Great Wall without planning in advance.

At that time, Liu Liao, a professor in the Department of Physics of Beijing Normal University, was in charge of the reception. He was the first scholar to study black hole physics and curved space-time quantum field theory in China. Liu Liao and others explained to Hawking that the Great Wall has no barrier-free access and it is difficult to receive people with mobility difficulties. But Hawking still insisted on going to the Great Wall, and even threatened to commit suicide on the spot if he was not allowed to go to the Great Wall.

In the end, Liu Liao had to invite some graduate students from the physics department to carry Hawking up.

Has time started

In 22, when Hawking visited China for the second time, he was already famous in China.

At this time, it has been four years since his book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to the Black Hole was published. Starting from the study of black holes, this book explores the origin and destination of the universe. It has been translated into more than 4 languages and sold more than 3 million copies all over the world. In the eyes of many people, without A Brief History of Time, Hawking's popularity may not be greater than that of mathematician Nash, who is also suffering from illness. "A Brief History of Time" has really brought Hawking from the scientific community to the public, and the general public has even equated black holes and the universe with Hawking. Therefore, he became a myth in the scientific community.

However, due to its extremely difficult content, the book has been dubbed as an Unread Bestseller in the west. Time magazine once said that most people who bought A Brief History of Time only read (or could only read) the third page. Some scholars have also thought that this book can sell so well because it tries to answer topics that only theology can touch in the past: does time have a beginning and does space have a boundary?

Hawking's trip to China was promoted by the famous mathematician Qiu Chengtong. He won the Fields Prize in 1982 and became the first Chinese mathematician to win the Fields Prize.

In August this year, Qiu Chengtong established the Mathematical Science Center in Zhejiang University and held the "22 International Conference on String Theory". Hawking was invited to deliver an academic report entitled "M-Theory Cosmology" at the conference to explain his "M-Theory" on celestial evolution to the audience in China.

On the projector behind Hawking, three questions were typed:

"Kant asked: Why was there infinite time before the beginning of the universe? What is the universe doing at all these times? Why is the universe not in thermal equilibrium now? "

Compared with the first trip to Hefei, Hawking's visit is much more lively.

After the trip to Hangzhou, Hawking went to Beijing again. This time, at the scientific report meeting of Beijing International Convention Center, the theme of the report was the novel world of membrane. The assembly hall of two thousand people was packed, and scalper tickets were sold to 8 yuan.

The day after the report, Hawking came to Zhongnanhai, where he was met by Jiang Zemin, then president.

Hawking said this time that he was very happy to come to China again after his visit to China in 1985, and he was deeply impressed by the great progress made by China in the past 17 years. He said that China should maintain and develop the tradition of attaching importance to basic science in its future development, because it depends on basic science to motivate young people to devote themselves to scientific research. He expressed his belief that in another 5 years, China is expected to become a country leading the world in science.

Hawking stayed in China for 17 days, and he climbed the Great Wall again. This time he took the sightseeing cable car introduced in 1988.

On August 21st, 22, Hawking visited the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing accompanied by his wife and assistant. According to Xinhua News Agency,

optimistic, romantic, but also stubborn

Turn the clock back to 26, Hawking's third visit to China still brought his latest research on cosmology.

On June 15th, as the first stop in China, Hawking gave a speech entitled "The Origin of the Universe" in the Gymnasium of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

In his speech, Hawking said, "Although you are physically disabled, your mind can't stop with you, and others won't stop for you.".

Humorous, he often makes jokes about his daily life. "Why do I use an American accent when I am a native Englishman?" He said, "My voice synthesizer was made in 1986 and made in the United States. It has been used without any major problems, and I got used to it over time. If I don't use it now, I will use the latest products with French accent. It's strange that my wife doesn't divorce me! "

After bidding farewell to Hong Kong, Hawking came to Beijing, the second stop. After arriving in Beijing, Hawking first came to the Temple of Heaven, a royal sacrificial garden in China, and walked around the dome where the emperor sacrificed to heaven, silently feeling China's traditional philosophy of "the harmony between man and nature".

On June 19th, 26, Beijing International String Theory Conference opened. When Hawking appeared in the Great Hall of the People in a wheelchair, dozens of cameras and camera lenses were uniformly aimed at him. Many young students jumped out of their seats with cheers and rushed to the rostrum, holding various cameras at him for a while.

"can you hear me?" Hawking began his 45-minute speech with his trademark greeting.

Hawking attended the 26 Beijing International Conference on String Theory

Wearing a dark striped shirt and reclining in a wheelchair, Hawking explained the origin of the universe in a simple and understandable way by blinking and eye movement.

He said, "The origin of the universe is a bit like a' bubble' in boiling water".

"At the beginning of the universe, many' small bubbles' may appear and then disappear. The expansion of' bubbles' will be accompanied by the collapse of micro-scale. Some collapsed' bubbles' cannot last long enough to develop into galaxies and stars, let alone intelligent life. But when some' small bubbles' expand to a certain scale, they can safely escape from the collapse and continue to expand at an increasing rate, forming the universe we see today, "he continued." We have observed that the expansion of the universe accelerates again after a long period of slowing down, and the existing theories still cannot explain this phenomenon well. Cosmology is a very exciting subject. We are close to answering the age-old question: Why are we here? Where did we come from? "

When talking about his third visit to China, Hawking said, "I like China girls. They are all beautiful. I also like the culture and food in China. " As for the place that once said that Tibet was the most attractive place for him, he also affirmed, "I have dreamed of traveling to Tibet since I was a child, but now I don't know whether such a wish can be realized."

When asked by reporters how to describe himself, the humorous and somewhat naughty Hawking said, "optimistic, romantic, but sometimes stubborn".

Look up at the starry sky, don't look down at your feet

Time came to April 12th, 216, nearly 1 years after Hawking's third visit to China.

At 1: 12 a.m. that day, Hawking opened an account in Weibo, and sent out the first Weibo to say hello to netizens in China:

"My friends in China, how are you? Long time no see! The last time I visited China was in 26, when I attended a physics conference in Beijing. The experience was unforgettable. My first trip to China was in 1985, when I traveled around your magnificent country by train. These trips have brought me into contact with the profound history and culture of China. But now, I can communicate with you through social media-through this Weibo, I hope to share my interesting life and work experience with you, and I also hope to learn from you through interaction, "Hawking wrote.

Hawking's first Weibo

from when he came to China in 26, he said, "I am an optimistic, romantic and stubborn person" to sharing his vision for the future, interesting life and educational dreams with netizens in Weibo. It seems that ten years have not changed much. Hawking is still a humorous and romantic wise man.

As Hawking's children Lucy, Robert and Tim said in the statement confirming his death, "His encouragement, his persistence, his wisdom and humor inspired people all over the world." In the short two years since the opening of Weibo, Hawking, who is intelligent and humorous, has never been stingy to share his experiences, whether it is scientific discoveries, public affairs, interesting life or answering questions for young people.

Hawking's last Weibo

His last Weibo was posted on November 24th last year, which answered a question from TFBOYS member Karry. By the time of his death, he had sent out 2 bilingual Weibo.

In these 2 Weibo, Hawking shared his birthday feeling with netizens, sent Mid-Autumn Festival wishes to everyone, talked about the education of the college entrance examination, and said that he wanted to play the role of the villain in the movie. Almost every Weibo has tens of thousands of likes, comments and reposts, which has accumulated quite high popularity in a short time.

On his 75th birthday, Hawking sent a message to young people, "Remember to look up at the starry sky, and don't look down at your feet. No matter how hard life is, please keep a curiosity. You will always find your own way and your own success. "

He also expressed his gratitude for studying cosmology all the time. "With my 75th birthday coming, I want to sincerely thank those who have been silently supporting me for so many years, making my world full of life, love and vitality. Thank you! "

Hawking's dream bottle inspired by "Butterfly in Zhouzhuang" was displayed in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

When it comes to the pursuit of dreams, Hawking, who is wise and brave, is cheering for the students on the occasion of the college entrance examination in 216.

He wrote, "When I was growing up, my parents always attached great importance to education. I'm glad that this journey to study has brought me countless opportunities. Whether you aspire to be a doctor, a teacher, a scientist, a musician, an engineer or a writer-please go ahead and pursue your dreams. You are the next generation of great thinkers and opinion leaders; The future will be born because of you. "

Hawking once said, "Eternity is a long time, especially for the end". His thoughts, achievements and contributions will naturally not stop with his departure.