Stephen Hawking in popular culture

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Stephen William Hawking is probably the most famous scientist alive today and has entered popular culture. This is due to his contributions to science and endurance of severe disabilities.

Contents

[edit] Television and Film

[edit] Appeared as himself

  • Red Dwarf. Hawking appeared in a special program of the popular British science fiction series. He praised its creators for their witty use of (pseudo) scientific theories and said he enjoyed watching the show.
Hawking as himself on Star Trek: The Next Generation
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Hawking as himself on Star Trek: The Next Generation

[edit] Appeared in cartoon form

  • Computer Stew. Hawking's image was animated and used as a character in several episodes.
  • Dilbert. Was featured in an episode about Dilbert's project, the Gruntmaster 6000, creating a black hole to wipe out all life on Earth. During the episode, it is "revealed" that Hawking has the power to travel through both time and space via wormholes, and Dilbert learns the hard way that you should never bet money that a theoretical physicist can't do something.
  • Fairly Odd Parents. Hawking appeared throughout the episode "Remy Rides Again", in a mechanical flying wheelchair with a rocket on the back of it, which at the end of the episode, disappeared in a way similar to that in which the Delorean went back in time in Back to the Future. Hawking was played by Dee Bradley Baker in this episode. Hawking was hired by Remy to prove that 2 + 2 = 5, and was also Crocker's room-mate in college. Then Crocker found out that 2+2 actually equalled 6.
  • Family Guy.
    • Hawking's persona was first featured in the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater"; it is a very brief cameo during the song "This House Is Freaking Sweet"; Hawking is presented as the man who will help Chris do his homework.
    • A character known as "Disabled Guy" or "Paraplegic Guy" appears to be largely based on Hawking. The character made his first appearance in the episode "Ready, Willing, and Disabled", as a competitor in the Special People's Games. He appeared a second time in "Brian the Bachelor" as an applicant for a reality TV show known as The Bachelorette.
    • In the episode "Brian Goes Back to College", he is portrayed as "Steve", Brian's advanced-physics professor. This time, he is married to a fellow quadriplegic who also speaks with an electronic keyboard.
  • Pinky and the Brain. In an episode in which a black hole is used as a weapon, Pinky throws it out of a hotel room window in defiance of the laws of physics. Brain notes that he must consult with Stephen Hawking.
  • The Simpsons. Made a few guest appearances on the long-running prime-time cartoon:
    • In "They Saved Lisa's Brain", Hawking saves Lisa from the power-hungry Springfield chapter of Mensa in a special wheelchair, complete with an Inspector Gadget–style retractable helicopter attachment and a spring-loaded boxing glove. In the episode, Homer says to Lisa "Did you have fun with your robot buddy?". Later, Homer mistakenly calls Hawking Larry Flynt. Near the end, while drinking together in a bar, Hawking tells Homer "Your theory of a donut shaped universe intrigues me. I may have to steal it."
    • In "Treehouse of Horror VI", Homer makes a reference to Stephen Hawking when he is transported to a three-dimensional zone, and moans "There's so much I don't know about astrophysics. I wish I read that book by that wheelchair guy."
    • Hawking is seen in a line of people about to board a space ship to Mars in "Life's A Glitch, Then You Die", a segment of "Treehouse of Horror X", in which the Earth is doomed by the millennium bug.
    • Hawking is also referenced in the episode where Sideshow Bob is temporarily released to help Homer find a person who is trying to kill him. Homer lists Stephen Hawking as someone who would want to kill him.
    • During the British Comedy Awards 2004, Hawking was presented with a one-off toy version of himself in Simpson form by Matt Groening, complete with boxing glove. Hawking presented Groening with a lifetime achievement award.
    • In the Season 16 episode "Don't Fear the Roofer", he is a friend of Lenny and the owner of the Little Caesars restaurant down the block from Moe's Tavern. Prof. Hawking shows up to explain that Bart couldn't see Ray (guest voice Ray Romano) during one scene because there was a black hole between the two of them, enabling Homer to prove his sanity after being institutionalized.
  • The Wrong Coast. A segment of the show tells about a movie called Party Time Continuum, in which Hawking is portrayed as a time-travelling party-animal played by Seth Green.
  • Weebl and Bob. In their clip Balance, Stephen Hawking flies across the screen in his buggy and the various characters play around with his speech synthesiser against his will, making it say strange things.
  • User Friendly. Stephen Hawking realizes in a power blackout that all the dark matter in the universe may be grues. [3]

[edit] Referenced

  • The Critic. Jay and his new trucker friends go to see "Ultimate Force" at a drive-in, which one of the truckers states will most definitely feature "a tough guy on wheels." The movie turns out to feature Hawking discussing his theories on relative force.
  • David Tench Tonight. David Tench interviewed Ella Hooper on the first episode and referred to Stephen Hawking as "the guy who (whirring while moving hands in a robotic fashion)'s."
  • The Friday Night Project. Every week in the 2006 series a voice purporting to be Hawking's, accompanied by a caption slide of a photograph of Hawking asks a contestant a quiz question, and confirms whether it is the correct answer.
  • Lazy Monday - Chronicles of Narnia Rap - West Coast Repsonse. Hawking's image is displayed as the rappers discuss reading another's mind faster than he read " A Brief History of Time."
  • 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent. An episode entitled "Inert Dwarf" was widely interpreted as a reference to recent suggestions that Hawking had been a victim of physical abuse. The story concerns a fictional wheelchair-bound physicist who is apparently subjected to assaults by his caretaker.[4]

[edit] Music and Radio

  • Bob & Tom Show. Hawking is portrayed (and his computerised voice simulated) in a spoof of the show I'm with Busey. At the end of the spoof, he's heard cursing his room-mate for being so stupid.
  • The Creedence and Bishop Show. Stephen Hawking and Friends are often heard on the show reinacting scenes from their favorite movies. heard from 2pm to 7pm on Carolina's Pure Rock, Rock 105.5, WXQR.
  • MC Hawking. The imaginary alter-ego for the "theoretical physicist turned gangster-rapper", MC Hawking's songs parody Hawking's distinctive speech synthesiser. Song titles include "E=MC Hawking" (“I explode like a bomb/no one is spared/my power is my mass times the speed of light squared”), "Fuck the Creationists" ("Fuck the damn creationists I say it with authority/because kicking their punk asses be my paramount priority") and "Entropy" ("You down with entropy?") The success of the MC Hawking amongst internet users eventually led to a 'greatest hits' compilation CD entitled A Brief History of Rhyme (a play on Hawking's A Brief History of Time book title). Hawking himself has said that he is "flattered, as it's a modern day equivalent to Spitting Image".[5]
  • Robin Williams, on his 2002 DVD Robin Williams: Live at the Broadway, mentioned that "I called Stephen Hawking's house once. 'Hello this is Stephen Hawking' 'Yes, I'd like to leave a message.' 'No. This IS Stephen Hawking.'"
  • The Voyage. The New York City Metropolitan Opera commissioned an opera in 1992 by composer Philip Glass to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World, which featured a wheelchair-bound scientist based on Stephen Hawking. Glass also wrote the music for the documentary A Brief History of Time.

[edit] Books, comics and newspapers

  • Ancient Shores. In this science fiction novel, he is one of several luminaries who are heroes of climax of the novel.
  • Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The main character, nine-year-old Oskar Schell, writes letters to Stephen Hawking frequently and once even receives a letter by Hawking that is addressed directly to him.
  • The Onion. Satirical newspaper ran an article claiming that Hawking had constructed himself a super-powered robotic exoskeleton, complete with a jetpack and claws that can rip through tanks. [7] Hawking, with his typical good humour, sent them a letter cursing them for exposing his evil plans for world domination. Hawking also had a printout of the article pinned up in his Cambridge office for some time after it was published.
  • Ultimate X-Men-- In Ultimate X-Men #25, there is a reference to Stephen Hawking having written an article on mutants, apparently stating that they were mankind's last hope against the rise of artificial intelligence. This makes him one of the rare humans who sympathize with mutants. In addition, the Earth 616 continuity has stated or hinted more than once that Hawking and Hank McCoy (the Beast) are close friends.
  • Bloom County--In the comic strip, Hawking was said to have had a rivalry with the strip's resident boy scientist, Oliver Wendell Jones.

[edit] Other media

  • Shin Megami Tensei. In this videogame there is a wheelchair-bound character who is obviously based on Stephen Hawking, though he is never named.
  • Chapman Brothers. The British artists produced a sculpture entitled Übermensch depicting Hawking in his wheelchair on top of a rocky outcrop.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/show_archive/925.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/gunsmok1.htm
  3. ^ http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20060910
  4. ^ Episode guide
  5. ^ http://mchawking.com/email.php?page_function=famous_mail
  6. ^ http://www.thebrushback.com/kordellstewart_full.htm
  7. ^ http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39133
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