Abstract

A response to Stephen W. Hawking's "A Brief History of Time"

In January 1993 one of the schoolkeepers at London Guildhall University gave me a book to read, saying that he had enjoyed it. The book was Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. This short essay is a humorous response, written primarily for the schoolkeeper, but also with the intention one day of turning the idea into a book. There is enough material in the history of science to make a longer discussion worthwhile, partly as a serious probing of how the emotional position of scientists directly influence the work they do, and partly as an affectionate look at the lesser-known sides of these great men. It would not be revisionist or disrespectful, merely a new angle on one of the most fascinating of human endeavours --- science.

1800 words