EFTA02036764.pdf

To: mail.com[[email protected]]: Jeffrey [email protected]] From: Sent: Fri 1/6/2012 10:30:24 PM Subject: I bet this was the main subject when he met with you! As famed physicist Stephen Hawking turns 70. the subject that most occupies his thoughts is not how the universe arose from nothing, or how he's been able to live with neurodogenerative disease for so long. Here's what he thinks about most: 'Women. They are a complete mystery? That's the bottom lino from New Scientists interview with Hawking, timed to coincide with this weekend's birthday celebration at Cambridge. The theorist is almost completely paralyzed due to his decades-long struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehng's disease, and had to provide his answers by laboriously twitching his cheek to operate a computerized speech-translation system. Hawking also listed what he saw as his "biggest blunder in science' (his now-repudiated insistence that information was destroyed in black holes), the most exciting development in physics during his career (the discovery of the lag bang's imprint in cosmic microwave radiation) and the potential discovery that would do the most to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos (discovery of supersymrnetric particles at the Largo Hadron Collider). But its his brief comment on women that attracted the most attention: How could it be that a scientist who has plumbed the deepest mysteries of the cosmos finds himself mystified by women? Based on the view most folks have of geniuses, how could it not be? The saga of the super-smart professor who is flummoxed by interpersonal relations. particularly with the opposite sex, is at least as old as Sigmund Freud (who famously wondered. 'What does a woman want?'). Jerry Lewis' fictional 'Nutty Professor and the stereotype we have of Albert Einstein. Its as up to date as the TV astrophysicist on 'The flig Bang Theory' whocan't say a word to women unless he's under the influence. Somehow, folks get a satisfying sense of karma from the idea that geniuses are socially stupid. But the stereotype doesn't really hold true. particularly in Hawking's case. Like the real-life Einstein. Hawking hes had an active romantic life. marked by two marriages. (Einstein's second marriage ended with the death of his wife and cousin Elsa: Hawking's ended in an ugly divorce.) Hawking's disease does not affect his sexual ability or his potency, and the fact that he's fathered three children is evidence of that. "The disease only affects voluntary muscle,' Hawking's been quoted as saying. He's been called an "incorrigible flirt" and a "party animal who likes to dance in his wheelchair." Having seen Hawking playfully chase his grandson around a backstage room in his wheelchair after a Seattle lecture, I can readily believe the 'party animal' part. And having seen the way his expressive eyes light up a room. I know he can turn on the charm despite his disability. Through the years. Hawking has had a special thing for Marilyn Monroe. A picture of the enigmatic blonde hangs in his Cambridge office, and Hawking once told The Guardian that if he could travel back in time, he'd rather meet Monroe than the great physicist Isaac Newton, who 'seems to have been an unpleasant character.' Even as he approaches the age of 70, Hawking seems to have kept his playful, pleasant, mischievous character. That may help explain his latest comment about the mystique surrounding women, as well as his own mystique to women. Here's a classic example: Actress Jane Fonda was clearly won over last year when Hawking came backstage after her performance in a play about a woman musicologist in the early stages of neurodegenonstWo disease. "I took his hand and carefully uncurled the fingers one by one, wanting to see how they felt and looked ... soft, pale, safe.' she recalled in a bldg posting. When Fonda asked Hawking what he thought of her performance. Hawking typed out a short response: 'You were my heartthrob" — which got a big laugh. Fonda came away starstneck. "This man who cannot move or speak, can. nonetheless. comprehend the incomprehensible.' she wrote. Hmm Maybe women aren't such a complete mystery to Hawking after all. More about Stephen Hawking: • Hawking is turning 70. and defying disease • Hawking seeks a helper to make his voice heard • 'There is no heaven' Stephen Hawking says • Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth EFTA_R1_00549992 EFTA02036764