Stephen Hawking had an inspiring life story
and an impressive scientific career.
But he was such a beloved figure because he
introduced the public to some of the biggest
questions in science.
Hawking published more than a dozen popular
science books over nearly 30 years.
He also explained the nature of the universe
in documentaries and cracked jokes in sitcoms.
Of course, there were science popularizers
before Hawking: Researchers like Jane Goodall
and Richard Dawkins changed the way we think
about ourselves.
Conservationists like Rachel Carson and Jacques
Cousteau changed the way we think about our
world.
Even physicists like Richard Feynman helped
introduce laymen to some of the stranger workings
of the universe.
But Hawking's work addressed some of the most
captivating questions, like the origin of
the cosmos and the nature of time.
And only a handful of scientists, like Carl
Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould, were as prolific
as Hawking at teaching the public about difficult
topics.
Now, there's no shortage of science popularizers.
Physicists like Sean Carroll and Lisa Randall
help unravel weird concepts like entropy and
extra dimensions.
And media fixtures like Neil deGrasse Tyson
and Michio Kaku still keep the public informed
about those big questions about the universe.
But we can credit Hawking with inspiring many
of the current generation of scientists not
just to do their research, but also to share
it with the rest of us.
