Malaysians pay tribute to Hawking

Happier times: Wong

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians bade farewell to the late Stephen Hawking, considered to be one of the greatest theoretical physicists ever, paying tribute to his tenacity in overcoming adversity and for sparking their imagination.         

Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, said Hawking was one of the most influential cosmologists when it came to reaching out to the public’s imagination and curiosity.

“That was what differentiated him from others ... you could win a Nobel Prize and the public wouldn’t care about you.

“So in the long term, your contribution to society is very limited. But not Stephen Hawking,” said Dr Mazlan, who is now director of the International Council for Science’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Hawking died at his home in Cambridge, England, yesterday at the age of 76.

His death received wide coverage in news outlets and was widely discussed on social media, with many commenters acknowledging the way he removed boundaries in human endeavour.

Dr Mazlan, who established the National Planetarium in 1986, said Hawking had opinions on multiple subjects ranging from artificial intelligence to extraterrestrial life to even the existence of God.

“He was willing to engage in issues that scientists normally stay away from. I think that was his biggest contribution.

“His death will leave a large intellectual void because he had such a following,” said Dr Mazlan.

Hawking visited Malaysia in September 1994 and gave a lecture at the National Planetarium, among other places.

“You can’t imagine. People had to register for the talk. It was overflowing,” said Dr Mazlan, adding that then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had a separate meeting with Hawking there. 

Inventor Robest Yong, who met Hawking during a lecture at Putra World Trade Centre, said he should be remembered not only for his brilliant mind, but his passion for life.   

“Most people would have given up living long ago with his dreadful illness (Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a motor neurone disease).

“But he lived to the fullest,” said Yong, adding that Hawking even danced in his wheelchair during the lecture.

Yong also had a chance to speak with Hawking, and the scientist asked him what he did for a living.

“I told him I was an inventor. He said I must be making a lot of money!” said Yong.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Hawking’s death was a great loss to the scientific community but his legacy would live on for generations to come.

Star Media Group managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai managed to secure a rare interview with Hawking in 2010 through the scientist’s daughter Lucy.

Wong, probably the only Malaysian journalist to have an exclusive interview with Hawking, said he had to e-mail his questions to Lucy about a month ahead.

“The questions were short, direct and numbered as requested.

“Another journalist had her questions returned because Hawking wanted them ‘stripped of extraneous details’,” he said.

When he arrived for the interview at the University of Cambridge, Wong recalled there was vapour puffing out of a dehumidifier near Hawking, who sat in the middle of the room with a team of nurses and aides watching.

“There was a moment of awkwardness. Awed by this great man and my inability to deal with his disability, I felt uneasy and was privately ashamed of my reaction.

“Sensing my hesitance, Lucy took her father’s hand and asked me to shake it,” he said.

Wong observed that while there was barely any perceptible movement of Hawking’s lips, his eyes were “incredibly knowing” and he was alert.

He also noted that Hawking seemed to love The Simpsons and had a great sense of humour.

“Despite his larger-than-life stature, and his enormous intellectual ability, he was clearly human,” he said.

The article can be found on The Star Online here: http://bit.ly/2pcIkoc