Physics

The Prospect Interview #174: The real Stephen Hawking, with Philip Ball

Recognising the humanity of a deified public figure

April 06, 2021
Photo: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
Photo: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo

A new biography of Stephen Hawking argues that the celebrated scientist was shamelessly self-promoting and his reputation overrated. Philip Ball joins the Prospect Interview to discuss Charles Seife’s Hawking Hawking: The Making of a Scientific Celebrity and talks to arts and books editor Sameer Rahim about humanising a scientific deity, and why it was that Hawking, out of all of his other similarly accomplished peers, became a household name. 

You can read Philip Ball’s review of Hawking Hawking here.

You can find the rest of the episodes of the Prospect Interview here