Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros / JOHN KELLERMAN / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Science
Claire Reid
Stephen Hawking had a simple response when asked if he believed in the existence of God.
Hawking, who died aged 76 in 2018, was a world-renowned scientist and author whose life’s work centred on theoretical physics and cosmology - particularly black holes and the discovery of Hawking radiation.
You can hear his views on God and the afterlife here:
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The late genius was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) - a type of motor neurone disease - in 1963, when he was just 21 and was warned by doctors that he had just two-years to live.
Although Hawking managed to completely defy the initial prognosis, his ability to move and communicate continued to deteriorate and he later communicated using an advanced computer system.
The computer was in the form of a tablet mounted to Hawking’s wheelchair arm and was powered by his wheelchair batteries.
There was a keyboard on the screen, which was controlled by detecting his cheek movements, allowing Hawking to type out what he wanted to say.
When he died at 76, he was the longest living MND survivor.
Hawking referenced his disability in his final book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, writing: “For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse that was inflicted by God. Well, I suppose it's possible that I've upset someone up there, but I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature.
“If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed. If you like, you can say the laws are the work of God, but that is more a definition of God than a proof of his existence.”
He went further with his opinions on the possibility of a God or of life after death.
“We are each free to believe what we want and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God,” he explained.
“No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization, there’s probably no Heaven and no afterlife, either.
“We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that I am extremely grateful.”
Hawking also wrote: “I think belief in an afterlife is just wishful thinking. There is no reliable evidence for it, and it flies in the face of everything we know in science.”