“There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them”*…
They have just found the gene for shyness. They would have found it earlier, but it was hiding behind two other genes.
– Stuart Peirson, senior research scientist, Oxford University Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology
Other howlers at The Observer’s “Scientists Tell Us Their Favourite Jokes.”
* Niels Bohr
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As we titrate out titters, we might send birthday yucks to Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA; he was born on this date in 1942. A theoretical physicist and cosmologist, he is probably best known in his professional circles for his work with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, for his theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation (now called Hawking radiation), and for his support of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
But Hawking is more broadly known as a popularizer of science. His A Brief History of Time stayed on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for over four years (a record-breaking 237 weeks), and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
“We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that, I am extremely grateful.”
