Stephen Hawking
Peter – congratulations on your Nobel Prize, it suits you well.
Peter Higgs
Well thank you. Thank you very much. I’m sure you pulled a few strings there?
Stephen Hawking
If I could have I would have. After our wager, I have the Higgs Boson Blues. You were right.
Peter Higgs
Well thank you. We needed a big rig to find it at CERN, but find it we did (What was the bet again/have you paid me yet!?)
Stephen Hawking
I’ve made blunders, like any of us, but that was spectacular.
Peter Higgs
Speaking of spectacular, your work in general relativity and thinking on quantam mechanics has shone brightly across our lives. We are all richer for your time here.
Stephen Hawking
Time is a fickle thing. But thank you Pete. I think the early work around black holes and what they emit is handy. Hawking Radiation became a spicy debate there for a while! The books were nice to connect with all kinds of people on. Did you read them?
Peter Higgs
In my Goodreads Stephen.
Stephen Hawking
I’m a little older and wiser now but I am happy with two discoveries: One: the foundations of the universe are still discoverable. We are learning every day. Two: Physics deals in absolutes, but they can absolutely change over time.
Peter Higgs
What do you think matters most from your work to date?
Stephen Hawking
Well, I was happy to be on The Simpsons but beginning to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, that’s exciting. We can begin to understand everything by staring into nothing – black holes. Application and creativity go a long way.
Peter Higgs
I agree. On Hawking Radiation what was it like to modify your opinion?
Stephen Hawking
That’s science really. We imagine, we form a theory and it’s proven (or not) until it isn’t. I was happy to refine my thinking there.
Peter Higgs
It was like that with the boson particle. 40 years of patience to be found right. But we had to put it out there.
Stephen Hawking
What do you think the world can take from our advances in physics, aside from the physics?
Peter Higgs
That we can all climb our Everest and succeed in any endeavor I think.
Stephen Hawking
That’s been my observation.
