Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Limits of Inquiry
AP: Physicist Stephen Hawking says Pope John Paul II tried to discourage him and other scientists attending a cosmology conference at the Vatican from trying to figure out how the universe began, according to Min Lee of the Associated Press.
Hawking said the pope told the scientists, "It's OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not inquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God.''
Hawking joked he was lucky the pope didn't realize he had already presented a paper at the gathering suggesting how the universe was created. "I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo,'' he said.
Hawking said the pope told the scientists, "It's OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not inquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God.''
Hawking joked he was lucky the pope didn't realize he had already presented a paper at the gathering suggesting how the universe was created. "I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo,'' he said.
