Space. The possibilities are unimaginable.
Theoretical physics and pop culture. It seems there is very little, really basically nothing, that joins these two, but there is a man that spent a good part of his life involved in both: Stephen Hawking. Maybe he spent more time with theoretical physics, but bear with me here. To be perfectly honest, I know almost nothing about theoretical physics, but I do know a little about pop culture.
Let’s start with the theoretical physics: Hawking worked on the basic laws that govern our universe. He, along with Roger Penrose, showed that Einstein’s general theory of relativity implied that space and time would have a beginning – the Big Bang – and an end – black holes. Hawking also conjectured that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time (confused? Google it! – Ed.).
While Hawking may have researched and theorized in ways that most of us could not understand, one of his most impressive skills was making science accessible to the masses. He may have passed away in March of this year, but we all know who Stephen Hawking was, and we all probably have an idea of what he did professionally; luckily for us, his sense of humor only added to his accessibility.
The functions of pop culture are vast, whether we’re talking about TV, movies, comics, cartoons, or music. All of these mediums can bring us together like nothing else can-through laughter, through wonder, through escape to a new world, through a questioning of the world around us, and through love. Star Trek is a series that forces us to look through one, or more, of these lenses, and these are lenses that even the world-famous Stephen Hawking loved to look through. His life’s work involved researching and theorizing on places we could boldly go to in some distant, or not so distant, future, while simultaneously being a long time fan of a TV series that also theorized on places we could boldly go to as a human race. Hawking rarely asked to be removed from his wheelchair, but did once sit in the captain’s chair that previously sat on the bridge of the Enterprise.
In addition to this, Hawking is the only person, ever, to play himself in an episode of any Trek series – and there are a lot of Trek series. In Star Trek: The Next Generation’s 1993’s season 6 finale, “Descent,” Hawking plays a game of poker with Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, and of course, Data. Data wants to understand how “three of history’s greatest minds” would interact in this scenario, and we get to see Hawking on the Enterprise D. The utopian wonder of Star Trek can grab the imagination of one of the century’s greatest minds, so much so that he lends his likeness to the world of Gene Roddenberry.
Perhaps one does not expect a theoretical physicist to possess a goofy sense of humor, but Stephen Hawking sure seemed to possess one. Not only did he grace Star Trek with his presence, but he also lent his sense of humor to The Simpsons; in speaking to Lisa, in the twenty-second episode of its tenth season, “They Saved Lisa’s Brain,” he tells her he wants to see the MENSA utopia they created in Springfield, but he declares it more of a “fruitopia.” Classic.
The Albert Einstein of our time is not above believing in the wonder of our time; wonder which is reflected in our science fiction and in our cartoons.
I’ve been fascinated with space ever since my dad attempted to entertain me and my brother on weekends by showing us Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers. Boy, did this backfire for him, big time. We never stopped analyzing and discussing these series, ever. Stephen Hawking possessed the uncanny ability to make me think all of this wasn’t just fantasy. I might not understand theoretical physics, but perhaps someday we could all make it off Earth to explore the galaxy and make peace with who we are, and with others, others that are wildly different from ourselves within this boundless universe.
