“We lived in a tall, narrow Victorian house, which my parents had bought very cheaply during the war, when everyone thought London was going to be bombed flat. In fact, a V-2 rocket landed a few houses away from ours. I was away with my mother and sister at the time, but my father was in the house.”
- 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”
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Quote
“We lived in a tall, narrow Victorian house, which my parents had bought very cheaply during the war, when everyone thought London was going to be bombed flat. In fact, a V-2 rocket landed a few houses away from ours. I was away with my mother and sister at the time, but my father was in the house.”
Explanation
This quote provides a glimpse into Stephen Hawking’s early life and the context in which he grew up. His family lived in a Victorian house in London, which his parents had purchased at a very low price during World War II. The reason for the low cost was the widespread expectation that London would suffer heavy bombing during the war, particularly from the German V-2 rockets. These rockets were a form of advanced weaponry used by the Nazis, and their unpredictability made them a constant threat to Londoners. In fact, a V-2 rocket landed very close to Hawking’s family home during the war, underscoring the danger and uncertainty of life in wartime London.
Interestingly, Hawking was away with his mother and sister when the rocket struck nearby, but his father was at home at the time. The event may have had a lasting impact on Hawking, not only because it highlighted the vulnerability of the times, but also because it marked a period in history when modern science and technology—in this case, the deadly V-2 rockets—were changing the landscape of warfare and human life. This early experience of living through the war and witnessing such a profound moment of danger may have influenced Hawking’s later fascination with the fundamentals of the universe and the forces of nature that govern both life and death.
The mention of this V-2 rocket also connects to the broader historical context of Hawking’s life. The war had a profound effect on many families, and the resources and experiences from that time, including the affordability of housing and the ever-present threat of bombing, shaped much of his early worldview. In a sense, the sense of uncertainty and randomness experienced during the war could have influenced Hawking’s later work in cosmology and theoretical physics, where questions of randomness, probability, and unpredictability are central themes.
