• Popsci

    Popular science writer Brian Clegg's blog.

    • Bad taste science writing

      Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 08:05 GMT

      Is it just me, or is this sentence from Michio Kaku’s entertaining book Parallel Worlds a little short on tact?

      (Hawking) radiation, in turn, has a temperature associated with it (which is proportional to the surface area of the black hole’s event horizon). Hawking gave a general derivation of this equation that involved a lot of hand waving.

      Last updated: Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 08:05 GMT

      • Comments

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 08:06 GMT
          Henry Gee said:

          Ouch…

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 08:18 GMT
          Richard Grant said:

          must … not … snigger

          Damn. Too late.

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 08:29 GMT
          Scott Keir said:

          Oh, I’m slow this morning.

          In the Simpsons, Stephen threw a few punches with a mechanical fist in his wheelchair. Perhaps it’s a multi-use attachment?

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 09:02 GMT
          Maxine Clarke said:

          Wasn’t that Dr Strangelove, Scott? ;-)

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 09:32 GMT
          Matt Brown said:

          Brilliant. I’d love to see the copyeditor’s correspondence for this paragraph.

          I briefly met Kaku when he was promoting this book at the Royal Institution a couple of years back. He signed my copy, “To Matt and Heather – best wishes in this and any other universe”. What a quipster.

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 10:33 GMT
          Scott Keir said:

          Wasn’t that Dr Strangelove, Scott? ;-)

          Stephen Hawking was in Dr Strangelove? What are you trying to say!

          (Though you will also (if you look real carefully) find Stephen Hawking in F**king Hell by the Chapman Brothers, so…)

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 11:34 GMT
          Stephen Curry said:

          What’s the problem? No need to deny Hawking the metaphorical use of his hands just because his real ones are immobile! You may also be assuming he is unable to surf the web but I think you might be mistaken…! ;-p

        • Date:
          Friday, 20 Jun 2008 - 14:35 GMT
          Maxine Clarke said:

          It was the uncontrollable mechanical arm in the wheelchair that got me thinking of Dr Strangelove, Scott….I think I am a bit odd in the sense of humour dept. Also I have never watched the Simpsons except in glimpses when I am in and out bringing the Queens cups of tea, meals, etc. So I may have got the wrong end of the fist.


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