Stephen Hawking on Science Fiction & his Forthcoming Trilogy

The famed American science-fiction author, Frederick Pohl said that Stephen Hawking told him that he "spent most of his first couple of years at Cambridge reading science fiction (and I believe that, because his grades weren't all that great)."

It looks as though Hawking's passion for science fiction has led to yet another milestone in a brilliant career. The world's most famous astrophysicist and author of A Brief History of Time, disclosed his desire to make "real science as exciting as science fiction" as he publicized George's Secret Key to the Universe, the first novel in a planned trilogy, which explains the workings of the solar system, asteroids, black holes and other celestial bodies.

The sole element of fiction in the book involves Cosmos, a supercomputer that opens a door allowing George and his friends to travel into space aboard an asteroid.

It will be released in French on Thursday, and in English a week later, and is set to be sold in 29 countries. The second book in the trilogy will be published next year.

The book was written with his daughter Lucy, who came up with the idea, and Christophe Galfard, the first Frenchman to write a doctorate thesis on Hawking's observations.

Lucy Hawking, a journalist and writer, told the press conference that one of her father's common refrains was, "That's too much science fiction, we do science fact."

The trio wanted to "provide a modern vision of cosmology from the Big Bang to the present day," without presenting it as magic, Galfard said, adding, "All of what we see (in the universe) corresponds exactly to what has happened already."

When asked about the choices facing the heroes in the novel--saving the world from global warming or finding another planet that is habitable for humans --Hawking, who is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton--said that, like his hero, George, he would opt to focus on both

"I'm very worried that global warming might become self-sustaining and the temperature might continue to rise even if we cut (carbon) emissions. I hope we have not reached that point yet but it is urgent," he said.
"I think the human race doesn't have a future if we don't go into space. We need to expand our horizons beyond planet Earth ... Sooner or later, disaster such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war, could wipe us all out."

Posted by Casey Kazan.