At 76 years, he left an intellectual legacy that will outlive him

Many people pass through this small planet unnoticed. Others are too visible and leave their trails long after their time is up. Some trails are physical like monuments, buildings and even artefacts. Few leave intellectual trails. Prof Stephen Hawking was among the few.

At 76 years, he left an intellectual legacy that will outlive him. We could argue he was a true superstar. Rarely do scientists become that famous.

Their ideas, though applicable in our everyday lives, are often seen as complex and incomprehensible. Occasionally, scientists rise to the occasion after being awarded Nobel prizes then return to obscurity. Hawking never won a Nobel, but he outshone many laureates.

He was physically challenged, perhaps a great source of fascination for a majority of able-bodied individuals. His other source of fame was his intellectual focus and cosmology - the study of the universe, how was it created and how it evolved and finally how it will end.

We see the sky and its stars every day, but we stop at that. Hawking went further, tried to understand the forces of nature that shape the universe and keep it balanced. His famous work focused on blackholes - strange bodies in the universe that suck everything in because of their massive density.

NASA (the real one), defines a blackhole as, “a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because the matter has been squeezed into a tiny space.” Being invisible, scientists use a gravitational effect to detect blackholes.

Blackholes defy common sense. This was the other reason Hawking became famous.

He focused on scientific issues that are bizarre and defy common sense. We can only compare Hawking with Albert Einstein who focused on another bizarre topic - relativity.

It includes mindboggling examples like twin paradox, where one twin goes to space and returns younger than the one left on Earth.

WHAT IS HAWKING’S LEGACY?

First, he added to our repertoire of knowledge about the universe, building a whole new field called cosmology. We now know more about the universe.

What was fascinating about his work is that he focused on the big things, the supernovas, the nebulae, the galaxies and the blackholes. However, we focus on the small things - our tribes, our accents, our counties and other shades of mentality that have held progress hostage.

Second, he popularised science to the masses.

The first person who forwarded to me the breaking news of his death was not a scientist. He told me he last did physics in Form Two and his best grade in that subject in high school can’t be disclosed to the public.

PUBLIC COFFERS

Even movie makers and cartoonists rode on his fame to make money. The language of physics ended up in our day-to-day conversations. When money disappears from public coffers, we say it got into a blackhole.

Three, he inspired the young to study science because of his intelligence and the fact that he was disabled.

What is more fascinating is that he held the same chair that another great scientist, Isaac Newton held at Cambridge, Lucasian Chair of Mathematics.

We need such positions in our universities. Hawking was admired by the great too, with the Pope and former US President Barack Obama paying homage to him. We could ask a few questions after paying our tribute to Stephen Hawking.

One, there is no doubt Hawkins was gifted intellectually. He got the nurturing he needed and flourished, leaving an unrivalled intellectual legacy. How do we treat our gifted kids in Kenya?

There are many schools for the physically challenged from the deaf to the blind. What of schools for the intellectually gifted? I recall teaching American high school students an undergraduate course under the Advanced Placement Programme where gifted high school kids take university courses. Why can’t we do the same? Some high schools share fences with universities, right?

Two, when will science become popular in this country?

Where will the winners of Science Congress go like the winners of music and drama? Statehouse? More importantly, where are our Stephen Hawkings, our Albert Einsteins? I do not believe there are no gifted Kenyans; psychologist say about two per cent of the population could be genius.

Why can’t we nurture them? It is strange that neither manifesto of Jubilee or NASA (ile yetu) mentioned gifted kids.

We are yet to appreciate like other nations, that our greatest resource is brains, not oil or land. It is envisaged that the new education system replacing 8.4.4 will nurture the talents of our kids.

A great idea but though an eternal optimist we might ask if the facilities and equipment to nurture such talents are there.

If a school finds a kid is talented in tennis, will government buy him a tennis kit and hire a coach? If a kid shows talent in music, will the instruments be bought? Wasting our country’s greatest minds should be a national shame.

Maybe that is why lots of our national problems have remained unsolved. By focusing more our brains; we shall be paying a befitting tribute to Stephen Hawking.