Leader: Hawking doesn't have all the answers

Published on Thursday 2 September 2010 14:57

What caused the Universe to begin? It is the Big Question that has haunted mankind since, well, the beginning of Time.

Now Professor Stephen Hawking has opined that a new set of theories have rendered redundant the role of a creator for the Universe.

In his new book, The Grand Design, he moves away from his previous, more accommodating, views on this deeply contentious issue and argues that Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of the universe.

Because of the law of gravity, the Universe can and will, he declares, create itself from nothing. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist." Now Prof Hawking is Britain's most eminent scientist. Arguing the toss on the beginning of Being is not for those of a limited attention span.

But sceptics may choose to pounce on several points. First, since he was not there at The Beginning, his views must remain a theoretical explanation rather than actual proof. Second, there needs to be an independent Panel of International Experts to adjudicate on this issue between Hawking and God. Third, what brought about spontaneity, exactly? And finally, if The Beginning can be theoretically 'proven', what about The Ending?