When Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at age 21, doctors thought he’d only survive a few more years. But the theoretical physicist defied the odds: Hawking turned 71 this week on January 8, 2013.
Here are 11 quotes from the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge and author of "A Brief History of Time."
Happy birthday, professor!
On His Schooling
"At school, I was never more than about halfway up the class. It was a very bright class. My classwork was very untidy, and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers. But my classmates gave me the nickname Einstein, so presumably they saw signs of something better. When I was twelve, one of my friends bet another friend a bag of sweets that I would never come to anything. I don't know if this bet was ever settled, and if so, which way it was decided..."
From the lecture "My Brief History", 2010.
On Contacting Aliens:
"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans. We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
From "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking," 2010.
On the Eureka Moment Scientific Discovery:
"I wouldn't compare it to sex, but it lasts longer."
From a lecture at Arizona State University, April 2011.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider