BERKELEY – The is the text of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Lecture
in Physics, delivered March 13, 2007, by Stephen Hawking, the
Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University.
Hawking spoke at Zellerbach Hall on the campus of the University
of California, Berkeley. Can you hear me? According to the
Boshongo people of central Africa, in the beginning there was
only darkness, water, and the great god Bumba. One day Bumba, in
pain from a stomach ache, vomited up the sun. The sun dried up
some of the water, leaving land. Still in pain, Bumba vomited up
the moon, the stars, and then some animals. The leopard, the
crocodile, the turtle, and, finally man. This creation myth,
like many others, tries to answer the questions we all ask. Why
are we here? Where did we come from? The answer generally given,
was that humans were of comparatively recent origin, because it
must have been obvious, even at early times, that the human race
was improving in knowledge and technology. So it can't have been
around that lon