Talk:Stephen Hawking

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Stephen Hawking article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: 14 days

Template:Vital article

This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Stephen Hawking is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 12, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
September 20, 2006	Good article reassessment	Delisted
February 6, 2010	Good article nominee	Not listed
February 16, 2012	Good article nominee	Listed
February 29, 2012	Peer review	Reviewed
March 28, 2012	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
June 17, 2012	Peer review	Reviewed
August 10, 2012	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 3, 2012	Featured article candidate	Promoted
February 23, 2014	Featured article review	Demoted
Current status: Former featured article

A news item involving Stephen Hawking was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 14 March 2018.

Wikipedia

Text and/or other creative content from Thorne–Hawking–Preskill bet was copied or moved into Stephen Hawking with this edit. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

This article has not yet been rated on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Biography: Science and Academia / Core B‑class

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is listed on the project's core biographies page.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Disability B‑class

	Stephen Hawking is within the scope of WikiProject Disability. For more information, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.DisabilityWikipedia:WikiProject DisabilityTemplate:WikiProject DisabilityDisability articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Education B‑class Mid‑importance

	Education portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Education, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of education and education-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EducationWikipedia:WikiProject EducationTemplate:WikiProject Educationeducation articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Atheism B‑class Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Atheism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of atheism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AtheismWikipedia:WikiProject AtheismTemplate:WikiProject AtheismAtheism articles

B

This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

For more information and how you can help, click the [Show] link opposite:

If you would like to participate, you can edit this article and visit the project page.

Quick help

Recent activity

To do

Join WikiProject atheism and be bold.

Add a userbox to your page ({{User WikiProject Atheism}} or {{User WPA2}}) and attract potential members.
Help with articles.
See this month's adopt-an-article.
Help out with this to-do list.

Be consistent

Use a "standard" layout for atheism-related articles (see layout style, "The perfect article" and Featured articles).
Add Atheism info box to all atheism related talk pages (use {{WikiProject Atheism}} or see info box)
Ensure atheism-related articles are members of Atheism by checking whether [[Category:Atheism]] has been added to atheism-related articles – and, where it hasn't, adding it.

Maintenance, etc.

Find sources for all positions of an article (see Citing sources and atheism references).
Try to expand stubs. Ideas and theories about life, however, are prone to generating neologisms, so some stubs may be suitable for deletion (see deletion process).
Watch the list of atheism-related articles and add to accordingly.
Always write for an encyclopedia.

Articles to improve

Agnosticism

Create

Articles on notable atheists

Expand

an atheism stub

Immediate attention

State atheism needs a reassessment of its Importance level, as it has little to do with atheism and is instead an article about anti-theist/anti-religious actions of governments.
False choice into False dilemma: discuss whether you are for or against this merge here
Clarify references in Atheism using footnotes.
Secular movement defines it as a being restricted to America in the 21st century.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

England B‑class High‑importance

	England portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Mathematics B‑class Mid‑priority

	Mathematics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mathematics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mathematics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MathematicsWikipedia:WikiProject MathematicsTemplate:WikiProject Mathematicsmathematics articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-priority on the project's priority scale.

‹See TfM›

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Physics: Biographies B‑class Top‑importance

	Physics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Physics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhysicsWikipedia:WikiProject PhysicsTemplate:WikiProject Physicsphysics articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Biographies Taskforce.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Astronomy: Cosmology B‑class High‑importance

	Astronomy portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Astronomy, which collaborates on articles related to Astronomy on Wikipedia.AstronomyWikipedia:WikiProject AstronomyTemplate:WikiProject AstronomyAstronomy articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Cosmology task force.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

University of Oxford B‑class High‑importance

	University of Oxford portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the University of Oxford on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of OxfordWikipedia:WikiProject University of OxfordTemplate:WikiProject University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Template:WP1.0

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Futures studies B‑class Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Futures studies, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Futures studies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Futures studiesWikipedia:WikiProject Futures studiesTemplate:WikiProject Futures studiesfutures studies articles
B	This article has been rated as B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

Guild of Copy Editors

This article was copy edited by Corinne, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on 20 April 2017.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors articles

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Stephen Hawking article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: 14 days

Punctuation

Under the heading "Religion", inverted commas are used oddly.

Stance on Israel

At some time in the past material has been removed concerning Hawking's these would be covered by references [318][319][320] that do remain in the article. The removed material must be restored because Hawking is on record with supporting the boycott divest movement against Israel and refuses to attend academic conferences in Israel. Leave tag in place until the material is restored. Wlmg (talk) 12:47, 3 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I independently noted the absence of references to his controversial stance on this issue, but was unable to correct this because someone has 'protected' it. Chrismorey (talk) 04:09, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I added it back in the article. It was/is a very controversial issue, and many leading news organizations have noted it. Definitely worth mentioning in a politics section. If anyone wants to remove it, they need to give a good reason why.

--Arsaces (talk) 04:59, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oxford BA or MA

The Alma Mater for his Oxford degree is shown as a BA. Would he not have received the honoury MA (Oxon)? See Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)

Death

Just heard on BBC Radio 5 that Prof. Hawking is dead. Expecting more on this. BBC report Dsalt (talk) 03:44, 14 March 2018（The world time） (UTC)

Users keep editing that he died on with 13 March or 14 March. Which date is right? FunksBrother (talk) 04:04, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Family announced he died "in the early hours of this morning" on Wednesday 3/14 UK time. General Ization ^Talk 04:05, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

what was the cause of death?199.119.233.160 (talk) 04:25, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The family did not release the cause of death with their announcement. An official cause may be announced later, but a) he was 76 years old, and b) he had lived with ALS for more than 50 years. His death was not unexpected, in fact, he outlived nearly everyone's expectations. General Ization ^Talk 04:28, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

What is the cause of death Musthaq n (talk) 09:36, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

We don't know, General Ization literally outlined this in the comment just above. Lordtobi (✉) 09:44, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 March 2018

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Death: March 14 2018 110.44.120.5 (talk) 03:56, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, it’s in the article. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 03:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 March 2018

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

According to news articles, he died on the 14th of March 2018. The article states the 13th. 2.223.123.156 (talk) 04:04, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Already

Fixed General Ization ^Talk 04:06, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

On the lead...

Can someone write a new second sentence that explains Hawking's impact in general terms that anyone can understand? Ed ^{[talk] [majestic titan]} 04:20, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Death date

Sources say his family said he "died today" and released the statement in the early hours of March 14 (source). Thus, the date of death should be March 14 until specified otherwise. EvergreenFir (talk) 04:41, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The BBC and Sky News report that he died “in the early hours of Wednesday” i.e. 14th March. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 05:17, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The Guardian explicitly says 14 March 2018 now EvergreenFir (talk) 05:49, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

He died on Pi Day. ;-] 210.186.24.203 (talk) 13:43, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 March 2018

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Add that the cause of his death was possibly his long-going struggled ALS. DatCreeper (talk) 05:27, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. AdA&D 05:29, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Unsubstantiated speculation on the cause of his death is not appropriate for Wikipedia. Ollie231213 (talk) 05:31, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 March 2018

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Add books to Selected academic works

Euclidean Quantum Gravity (1993)
Hawking on the Big Bang and Black Holes (1993) 119.75.22.66 (talk) 06:17, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. The section isn't a comprehensive list of all of his academic works, only ones that are most significant in terms of impact on the field or coverage in reliable sources. Mz7 (talk) 07:32, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

MND rather than ALS

As the article is written in British English, the references to his disease should call it Motor Neurone Diseases, as that is what it is called in the UK and that's what Hawking called it. The ref to ALS should follow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.175.255.178 (talk) 08:57, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Honorary Professor of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands

Stephen Hawking was appointed in 2016 Honorary Professor of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands). I think this information should go in the section "Recognitions". See references: Director del IAC recuerda a brillante científico y a un luchador por la vida, Stephen Hawking, Profesor Honorario en Canarias.--87.223.34.161 (talk) 10:22, 14 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]