“There are many ambitious experiments planned for the future. We will map the positions of billions of galaxies, and we will better understand our place in the universe. But we must also continue to go into space for the future of humanity. I don’t think we will survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.”
Professor Stephen Hawking’s inspiring life and charismatic personality won countless hearts. A figure in popular culture, he provided the commentary for the documentary TV series Stephen Hawking’s Universe and delivered memorable cameos in the US animated sitcom The Simpsons, the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory, and the season six finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. These appearances humanized the role of scientists in the public eye, making physics accessible and appealing to millions. His extraordinary life and relationship with his first wife, Jane, were famously portrayed in the Academy Award-winning film The Theory of Everything.
Professor Hawking is fondly remembered for his iconic voice, quick wit, and sense of humor. He said, “Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.” […]
Professor Hawking was a visionary scientist. Some of his theories and predictions were only proven to be accurate years after his passing. For example, his “black hole area theorem,” developed in 1971, was not tested until recently, when the equipment was advanced enough to catch up. According to his theory, “the boundary beyond which nothing can ever escape, should never shrink.” In other words, he predicted that the total event horizon area of a merged black hole cannot decrease, and must be at least as large as the sum of the areas of its progenitor black holes.
“Recently, scientists witnessed one of the most powerful cosmic events ever recorded. A collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion light-years away. This event, named GW250114, sent ripples through the very fabric of space. These ripples, called gravitational waves, traveled across the universe and finally reached us here on Earth. Using the incredibly sensitive detectors at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or LIGO, researchers were able to hear the collision. The vibrations were minuscule, smaller than a proton, but they held the key.
By analyzing the data from these gravitational waves, scientists could reconstruct the entire event. They figured out the mass and spin of the two original black holes and then measured the properties of the final merged black hole. The result was astonishing. The new black hole’s surface area was indeed larger than the sum of the two that created it, confirming Hawking’s area theorem with a staggering 99.999% certainty.”
In 1995, on the BBC Tomorrow’s World program, Professor Hawking predicted that by the year 2025, society would be drastically transformed by a “worldwide internet,” becoming closely interconnected and heavily digitized; however, this can also lead to potential instability. This prediction has proven to be highly accurate.
He also foresaw that the space race would be led by private enterprises outside of governments, and this prophecy has also turned out to be true through the work of private companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Looking further ahead, another 1,000 years, he expressed his deep concern for the future of humanity in his book “Brief Answers to Big Questions.”
“One way or another, I regard it as almost inevitable that either a nuclear confrontation or environmental catastrophe will cripple the Earth at some point in the next 1,000 years, which, as geological time goes, is the mere blink of an eye. By then, I hope and believe that our ingenious race will have found a way to slip the surly bonds of Earth and will therefore survive the disaster. The same, of course, may not be possible for the millions of other species that inhabit the Earth, and that will be on our conscience as a race. I think we are acting with reckless indifference to our future on planet Earth. At the moment, we have nowhere else to go, but in the long run, the human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. I just hope we can avoid dropping the basket before we learn how to escape from Earth.”
On December 12, 2017, at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Professor Stephen Hawking delivered what’s now considered his last public speech.
“There are many ambitious experiments planned for the future. We will map the positions of billions of galaxies, and we will better understand our place in the universe. But we must also continue to go into space for the future of humanity. I don’t think we will survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.
It has been a glorious time to be alive, doing research in theoretical physics. The fact that we humans, who are ourselves mere collections of fundamental particles of nature, have been able to come this close to an understanding of the laws governing us and our universe is a great triumph, and I am happy if I have made a small contribution.
I want to share my excitement and enthusiasm about this quest, so remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up. While there is life, there is hope.”
Just three months after his final speech, Professor Hawking passed away peacefully at his home at the age of 76, coincidentally on Albert Einstein’s birthday. As a tribute to this beloved genius of our time, his voice was beamed into space.
“Antana in central Spain will beam his voice recording 3,500 light-years away, to the nearest black hole from Earth. The world-renowned music composer Vangelis, who is known for his music masterpiece Chariots of Fire, has set Hawking’s voice to an original piece of music. The 6.5-minute piece carries a message of hope and peace, and will take a total of 35 minutes to reach space.”
“One of the great revelations of the space age has been a perspective that has given humanity on ourselves. When we see the Earth from space, we see ourselves as a whole. We see the unity and not the divisions. It is such a simple image, with a compelling message:
One planet, one human race. We are here together, and we need to live together with tolerance and respect. We must become global citizens. I have been enormously privileged through my work to be able to contribute to our understanding of the universe. But it would be an empty universe indeed if it were not for the people I love and who love me. We are all time travellers journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit. Be brave, be determined, overcome the odds. IT CAN BE DONE.”
Professor Hawking’s message of unity and peace is echoed by the astronauts who took part in the Artemis II mission. This amazing crew completed their 10-day journey around the Moon and back in April 2026.
“When I think about the four of us flying around the far side of the Moon, coming around, seeing that Earth rise, taking images and video and sending them back to you, the feeling that I have inside is hope. I just imagine what that is going to be like. And we know that Artemis II is not the solution for humanity on planet Earth, but it is a contribution in the positive column. We hope that just for a moment, people will pause and say, ‘Wow, it’s extraordinary when you look back upon the Earth with over 8 billion people.’ And they will see this concrete example of what humanity can do, this extraordinary thing, when we set big goals, and we work together to achieve them.”
Yes, by working and living together in unity and harmony as one big global family, humans can overcome the global crisis facing us. We must enlarge our hearts in order to love all beings sharing this precious space called Earth with us, and save our own home. Then, our space exploration will not be a desperate measure for survival as Professor Stephen Hawking has warned, but a fascinating adventure and journey of discovery. We’ll then visit other planets, not as refugees, but as ambassadors and guests to exchange culture, products, and laughter.
