A bit of a charlatan

Frankly, that's what I thought Stephen Hawking, who has just died.  A world-renowned theoretical physicist, he waxed on about everything -- which is why the movie they made of his life was entitled 'The Theory of Everything'.  Most of it, it seemed to me, was just stuff made up on the fly.  I mean, how can one person be right about theories on everything?  I guess if you call them all "theories", you can get away with anything.

Theories are notions; theorems require proof.  The emphasis for Hawking needs to be put on the "theoretical" part of his title.   

Most people have one area of expertise -- except for Einstein, who proved his theories mathematically.  My late father, as head of the NRC's rubber lab for instance, was a pioneer in the development of synthetic rubber -- a huge achievement for the entire world and one he developed with numbers and equations.  But Hawking "blue-skied" it on tangents about....well....everything.  Nevertheless, people worshipped him.  And he loved it.  The guy had quite the ego.  It always seemed to me his devotees were as much in awe of his physical limitations and computer speech gadget as his musings.  Someone on TV just said, "He enchanted the world."  Yep, but not much else. 

The movie showed his egomania to some extent, but interviews with various wives and women he'd thrown over revealed him to be a fairly mean and heartless guy, who demanded reverence on all levels. 

Anyway, what do I know?  This may be just what I think, but one thing I know for sure:  I am a very astute judge of character.  And that includes bullsh-t.