“For years, my early work with Roger Penrose seemed to be a disaster for science. It showed that the universe must have begun with a singularity, if Einstein’s general theory of relativity is correct. That appeared to indicate that science could not predict how the universe would begin.”
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- British
- Theoretical physicist, science writer
- Announced the black hole singularity theorem and Hawking radiation, and contributed to the popularization of science with his book “Talking about the Universe”
Quote
“For years, my early work with Roger Penrose seemed to be a disaster for science. It showed that the universe must have begun with a singularity, if Einstein’s general theory of relativity is correct. That appeared to indicate that science could not predict how the universe would begin.”
Explanation
In this quote, Stephen Hawking reflects on a pivotal moment in his early scientific career, when he and Roger Penrose worked together on developing the concept of the singularity in the context of general relativity. Their work showed that under the framework of Einstein’s theory, the universe must have originated from a singularity—a point of infinite density and curvature of spacetime. This conclusion was groundbreaking but, as Hawking notes, it initially seemed to be a disaster for science because it implied that scientific prediction could not explain the origins of the universe. The singularity represented a breakdown in predictability, suggesting that science could not offer a clear understanding of what happened “before” the Big Bang, or how the universe began.
The issue they encountered is that general relativity, which describes the large-scale structure of spacetime, breaks down at a singularity, and no physical theories at the time could account for the quantum effects at that scale. In essence, Hawking and Penrose’s work highlighted the limits of existing physics, pointing out that certain questions about the universe’s origins might remain fundamentally unknowable—at least based on current scientific understanding.
Despite the initial difficulties, Hawking’s later work helped to resolve some of these issues. He proposed that the Big Bang could be understood through the concept of imaginary time, which allowed for a self-contained universe without a singular beginning in the traditional sense. In doing so, he was able to suggest a way of understanding the universe’s origins that avoided the paradox of a singularity. This progression from what seemed like a scientific dead-end to a more complete understanding of the universe’s beginnings illustrates the ongoing evolution of scientific thought and Hawking’s ability to challenge established ideas while contributing new insights that would reshape our understanding of the cosmos.
The quote is also a reminder of how science often operates in a cycle of challenge and resolution, where apparent failures or setbacks can lead to deeper questions, more refined theories, and ultimately new breakthroughs. Hawking’s early work with Penrose, while initially seen as a setback, laid the groundwork for many of his later, more successful contributions to cosmology and theoretical physics.
