Stephen Hawking is world renowned for being one of the most brilliant scientific minds of our time. So clearly, whenever he says something publicly, it's a big deal.
Hawking has been a bit of a downer lately, no? Earlier this month, he grabbed headlines for his comments on the so-called God particle, which he wrote about in the preface to his new book Starmus. The particle, he says, has the potential to destroy the universe. Now anyone who believes in the existence of a higher, divine power should probably just give up hope altogether. Because according to Hawking, there is no God.
Hawking made this pronouncement during a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. His comments were in response to some murkiness in his books about the origins of the universe. In Hawking's best-seller A Brief History of Time, he writes that a set of scientific principles known as "the theory of everything" would allow scientists to "know the mind of God," according to NBC News. However, in his more recent book The Grand Design, Hawking said that the origin of the universe was so well-known that it could be explained without mentioning God.
"Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation," Hawking told El Mundo in a recent interview. "What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist."
Naturally, Hawking has been asked about his religious beliefs before. Science and religion famously come at odds with one another, after all. Hawking told the BBC he was "not religious in the normal sense" in 2007 and that the "Universe is governed by the laws of science," which may have been decreed by God but God does not become involved with. In the battle between religion and science, Hawking told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in 2010 that "science will win." He also told The Guardian in 2011 that the idea of Heaven or an afterlife is a "fairy story." So basically if you ever want to be optimistic about the future, do not seek advice from Hawking.
However, the famed physicist has clearly overcome incredible adversity in his life. Case in point, Hawking didn't let being diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21 stop him from becoming one of the most influential and respected individuals of our time. The trailer for his upcoming biopic The Theory of Everything is truly inspirational, even for the most pessimistic among us. Hawking may not believe in God, but whatever he believes in is clearly working for him.
