Stephen Hawking didn't believe in God, and he reinforced his belief in his final words when he passed away in 2018.
Stephen Hawking's Final Words
Hawking is best known for his discovery that black holes emit radiation, which can be detected by special instrumentation, according to NASA. The great physicist passed away on March 14, 2018.
He was supposed to celebrate his 81st birthday in January if he was still alive. We commemorate his life by revisiting his last words.
According to Mirror, Hawking's final words came in the form of the book "Brief Answers To The Big Questions," which was completed by his family following his death.
The publication includes several questions the scientists received when he was still alive. His final words in the book reflected his being an atheist.
"There is no God. No one directs the universe," Hawking reportedly wrote, per Mirror.
It wasn't the first time he spoke about his stand on the divine being.
He also shared his pragmatic view about the body, brain, and life after death in a previous interview with The Guardian.
He told the outlet that the brain is a computer that stops working when its parts are defective. He also said that there is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. For him, the stories about heaven and the afterlife are fairy tales for those afraid of the dark.
After the publication of his 2010 book "The Grand Design," Hawking explained to TIME his take on God using a language that was more symbolic than literal.
According to him, people consider God the reason for our existence. However, for him, the reason the people are here is the laws of physics and not a faceless deity or someone many are trying to build a personal relationship with.
The British genius echoed the same sentiment when he appeared on TV on "Genius of Britain." Hawking claimed that the question was: whether the universe began through the law of science or was selected by God for reasons we could not comprehend. He chose the former.
He added that one could refer to the laws of science as "God," but it wouldn't be diety that one could personally meet and converse with.
Stephen Hawking's Last Act of Kindness
Even if Hawking didn't believe in God, his final act of kindness was paying for a grand Easter meal for hundreds of homeless people in his home city of Cambridge. On the day of his funeral, his family donated to the FoodCycle's Easter lunch at Wesley Methodist Church.
All the tables featured a note that read, "Today's lunch is a gift from Stephen. From the Hawking family."
The organizers said almost 50 people received the meal, and they paid tribute to the late author and physicist with "a little cheer" before enjoying the food.
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