--- title: Stephen Hawking’s Greatest Scientific Accomplishment description: Physicist John Preskill remembers the late Stephen Hawking — both for his work with black holes and for a very memorable bet they made canonical: https://time.com/5201371/stephen-hawking-john-preskill-obituary/ author: John Preskill article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-15T16:58:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:02:53.644Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Stephen Hawking’s Greatest Scientific Accomplishment og:description: Physicist John Preskill remembers the scientist — and their famous bet against one another og:url: https://time.com/5201371/stephen-hawking-john-preskill-obituary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f96883e8e1e3a5b/69888ef02dce0177199e8a2e/breakthrough-starshot-initiative-stephen-hawking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: breakthrough-starshot-initiative-stephen-hawking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Hawking’s Greatest Scientific Accomplishment twitter:description: Physicist John Preskill remembers the scientist — and their famous bet against one another twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f96883e8e1e3a5b/69888ef02dce0177199e8a2e/breakthrough-starshot-initiative-stephen-hawking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Remembering Stephen Hawking’s Greatest Scientific Accomplishment — and My Famous Bet Against Him > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=47af1267-90bf-4155-820b-2492f165793a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Some of Famed Physicist Stephen Hawking's Most Memorable Quotes [Watch (HLS stream): Some of Famed Physicist Stephen Hawking's Most Memorable Quotes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Xs6ZxcI2.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2018-03-14. Professor Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist who died Wednesday at the age of 76, enthralled the world with his work and teachings on space, time, and the universe_ by [John Preskill](https://time.com/author/john-preskill/) ## John Preskill Mar 15, 2018 4:58 PM UTC Professor Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist who died Wednesday at the age of 76, enthralled the world with his work and teachings on space, time, and the universe by [John Preskill](https://time.com/author/john-preskill/) ## John Preskill Mar 15, 2018 4:58 PM UTC I’m glad to write about [Stephen Hawking](http://time.com/5198751/stephen-hawking-physicist-obituary/) for _Time_ because Stephen spent much of his scientific career thinking and writing about time. [Time was his thing](http://time.com/5198804/stephen-hawking-obituary-brief-history-of-time/). Stephen studied time from the perspective of Einstein’s theory of gravitation, the general [theory of relativity](http://time.com/4217820/gravitational-waves-history/). One of his early achievements was proving that time had a beginning — that the laws of physics as we now understand them must have broken down very early in the history of the universe, at the Big Bang. Stephen also [greatly advanced our understanding of black holes](http://time.com/2048/black-holes-hawking/), where gravitational forces are so strong that time comes to an end. He argued forcefully that travel backward in time is disallowed by the laws of physics, which (as he put it) “makes the world safe for historians.” No one understood time better than Stephen Hawking. Stephen’s greatest scientific achievement was a discovery about black holes in 1974 that shook the world of physics. According to Einstein’s theory, nothing — including light — [can escape from inside a black hole](http://time.com/4360402/black-holes-see-three-new-ways/). That’s why it’s black. But Stephen found that black holes are not really completely black. Instead, due to the subtle consequences of quantum physics, they emit what we now call Hawking radiation. That insight ignited a controversy that still rages 44 years later, regarding what happens to information that falls into a black hole. If I drop my highly confidential diary into a black hole, will it be lost forever from the universe? Or will it emerge from the black hole hidden in the [Hawking radiation](http://time.com/5198933/why-stephen-hawking-never-won-nobel/), highly scrambled but decipherable in principle? We still don’t know the answer for sure, but Hawking’s breakthrough laid the foundation for much of the progress we’ve made on the greatest challenge facing fundamental physics: understanding how gravitational physics and quantum physics fit together. While his scientific accomplishments alone would suffice to ensure an enduring legacy, Stephen Hawking also became one of the world’s most successful popularizers of science. Stephen firmly believed that the quest for a complete theory of the universe should be accessible to everyone, at least in broad principle, not just to a few specialists. That conviction drove him to write _A Brief History of Time_. While other scientists write books for lay readers, only Stephen seemed to earn tenure on the New York _Times_ bestseller list, thanks in part to that ingenious title. The book sold over 10 million copies and was translated into dozens of languages. Its extraordinary success led to more books, including a series for children Stephen co-authored with his daughter Lucy. And I haven’t even mentioned yet what made Stephen Hawking [the most famous scientist in the world](http://time.com/5199537/celebrities-from-all-realms-are-mourning-stephen-hawkings-death/) — he achieved scientific greatness despite a severe physical disability, all while displaying a zest for life and buoyant sense of humor that seemed miraculous under the circumstances. People rooted for Stephen, and he appreciated having millions of fans. Stephen was fun to be with. I sensed when we first met that he would enjoy being treated irreverently. So in the middle of a scientific discussion I could interject, “And what makes you so sure of that, Mr. Know-It-All?” After a beat Stephen would respond with a glint in his eye: “Wanna bet?” With our friend Kip Thorne, we made some of those bets “official,” and we were all taken aback by how much attention they received. Stephen conceded our most famous bet (regarding whether black holes destroy information) in 2004, before an audience in Dublin of 700 scientists and at least 50 reporters from print and electronic media. To pay off, he presented me with _Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia_. You can’t buy one of those in Ireland, so Stephen’s assistant had arranged to have it shipped overnight just in time. Not knowing what else to do, I held the book over my head as though I had just won the Wimbledon final, while a million flashbulbs were popping (it seemed like a million, anyway). One of those pictures wound up in _Time_. We made bets for fun, but the scientific issues in question, founded on some of Stephen’s most far-reaching contributions, are ones many physicists passionately care about. Combining extraordinary depth of thought with an [irrepressible sense of play](http://time.com/5199216/stephen-hawking-death-the-simpsons/), that’s what I’ll remember best about Stephen Hawking. ## Transcript All over the world people come up to me and say how much they have enjoyed my book. They may not have understood it all. If they did they would be ready to start a PhD in theoretical physics Persistent in his pursuit of knowledge, Stephen Hawking has unlocked new pathways of discovery and inspired people around the world. [ APPLAUSE ] I didn't do my scientific work in the the hope of winning prizes and medals. I did it because I wanted to understand the universe. There's nothing like the thrill when you discover something no one knew before. I hope I will be remembered for my work on black holes and origin of the universe, not for things like appearing on The Simpsons. [ SOUND ] Although my body is not very limited, my mind is free to expose the universe. There are no limits to the human spirit. MND is no barrier to thinking achieving and getting on with life. We just have to find new ways of doing things. After my expectations had been reduced to zero, every new day became a bonus and I began to appreciate everything I did have. While there's life, there is hope. Being on a ventilator has not curved my lifestyle. Since going on a ventilator full time, I have been to Brussels, The Isle of Man, Geneva, Canada, California twice, and I hope to go into space with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. [ LAUGH ] The zero G flight I did last year was wonderful. After 40 years in a wheelchair, it was good to be floating free. Okay, rotate. Ready, ready. One, I don't think that human race has a moral obligation to learn about space, but it would be foolish and shortsighted not to do so. It may hold the key to our survival. I see great danger for the human race. There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. I think global warming is a greater threat than terrorism. Climate change could kill millions. We should have a war on global warming, rather than a war on terror. Religion has been a force for evil throughout history. Religion is supposed to make people behave for fear of the hereafter, but this doesn't seem to have deterred people in the past. I think a conventional afterlife It's a fairytale for people afraid of the dark. One can't prove that there wasn't a creator, all one can do is solve for a more reasonable explanation based on science. Ever since the Greeks, we have managed to explain what previously seemed acts of God, in terms of scientific laws. I believe what makes us unique is transcending our limits. I lost my voice, but I can still speak thanks to my voice synthesizer. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] How do we transcend these limits? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] With our minds and our machines. At one point, I thought I would see the end of physics as we know it. 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