MY MEETING WITH STEPHEN HAWKING By Teague Johnson On Tuesday June 29, 1993, I went to hear Stephen Hawking speak. My father, Larry, and my Mom, and my foster mother, Cara, came with me. I was really excited about hearing Stephen Hawking and maybe even meeting him. Stephen Hawking is my hero. He is an inspiration to me. When I read his book, "A Brief History of Time", for the first time in my life I encountered ideas that were too big for me to swallow in one bite. I have been really interested in Quantum Physics and cosmology ever since. When I learned that Stephen Hawking was coming to Vancouver I was very happy. My father and I got tickets for the reception that followed the lecture. The lecture was really fascinating. Professor Hawking spoke about the probability of life existing elsewhere in the Universe. I really enjoyed the lecture but disagreed with some of his ideas. I especially found the idea of mechanical life difficult to accept. I believe the definition of life must include some concept of the spiritual world. However, his discussion of the way life may have arisen and the process of evolution was really interesting. Professor Hawking has a wonderful sense of humor and his lecture was very witty. After the lecture Professor Hawking answered some questions from the audience. I got my Mom to write out a question for me which she gave to the usher to take to the stage. Unfortunately there wasn't time for Professor Hawking to answer all the questions but my question was similar to another question he received. My question was about entropy and the eventual death of the universe and whether this could be balanced by the creation of matter from the spiritual world. In my opinion his answer about the steady state universe was really inadequate. A steady state universe is really a big bang universe with a minimal creation happening after the big bang. But I would like to postulate a continuous creation from the spiritual world to counteract the entropy. However, I really was a bit disappointed that I never heard Dr. Hawking's answer to my question. We waited until the usher came to help us get to the reception. And so Larry wheeled me up the ramps and to the elevator. The excitement was a bit too much for Larry. He really was silent when we got to the reception. I will admit that I was excited too. The prospect of meeting the famous scientist was really very compelling and I was determined to speak to him before going home. The problem was that the reception was very crowded and very smokey. Larry did not want to risk taking me into that big crowd. He is overly protective about my lungs and wanted to avoid congestion. I teased him about overprotectiveness but I was afraid that Stephen Hawking would ignore me in that big crowd. So I told Larry to wait a few minutes before going into the reception. Luckily the reception usher told us that Stephen Hawking would pass that very spot in a few minutes. That really confirmed my suspicion that going into the reception was a bad idea. Larry waited nervously, and so did I. Soon a man with a walkie-talkie approached and the number twenty-three was squawked out loud. That was really a code meaning that a very famous scientist was coming around the corner instantly. Well, I was flabbergasted and Larry was really a bit too silent for my comfort. Larry has a habit of being too silent when he is really in awe of someone's intelligence. I was afraid that he would ruin my opportunity to speak to Stephen Hawking. Fortunately, by accident Larry had positioned my little blue wheelchair between Stephen Hawking's gigantic electric wheelchair and the lift to the reception floor. Something made Larry break his silence when a bald man said, "Does the boy want to talk to Stephen Hawking?" Larry answered, "That would make him extremely happy." The Man said, "What is the boy's name?" Bad Larry said "Teague" in a way that made the bald man think, "Teak". And so I was introduced to Stephen Hawking as an East Indian tree and not as a handicapped boy. But actually Larry corrected the man. The real truth is I don't remember my exact words. I only said about five sentences, but I really babbled and babbled until Dr. Hawking said, "Hello". I told him he really inspired me with his courage. Likely, he said, "Thank you," as I babbled some more. The bald man said, "That is enough, now", and Stephen Hawking did look very tired. I could understand his tiredness because I am physically handicapped too. Every afternoon I take a short nap to recoup my energy. I thought, "Likely Stephen Hawking is the same". Larry wheeled me a short distance away while Stephen Hawking entered the reception. I thought, "How will he cope with all the noise and the smoke and all those tall people around his chair?" I felt sad for the great cosmologist as he disappeared into the crowd. Even a famous handicapped genius needs normalization, if normalization means adulation. I thought about that while Larry pushed me to the elevator. He chatted with me and the nice usher who imitated me by calling my father Larry. We arrived at the elevator and waited while a delivery man unloaded boxes of liquor bottles. Likely the reception would continue after Stephen Hawking left. Then a nice Mr. Mullens from the CBC emerged from the elevator with his lovely producer. I babbled away to Mr. Mullens about meeting Stephen Hawking. He asked me to write something about the meeting and this is it, making me the author of a self referential system. So Godel's proof applies to my current words. We finally reached the main floor. I really wanted to get home fast because Mom and Cara would be waiting to here about my actual meeting with the great man. Larry was really nervous about getting to meet Stephen Hawking so he loaded me into the car and almost ran over a motorcycle behind him while getting into the road. Then he drove right down the street into a cul de sac. Then he had to go down a one-way lane backwards. When he realized he was going against the flow of traffic he decided to reverse the car and back into a lot to get turned around. I laughed at him. He always gets so nervous in the car, especially when driving downtown. He actually had to go several blocks in the wrong direction to get to a street that let him turn left. Really I was appalled that we were getting farther from home all the time but Larry kept saying, " Ok Teague, we'll be going in the right direction soon." Soon was not the right word. Eventually we got to the Lion's Gate Bridge. Nervous Larry really drove slowly over the bridge and angry motorists honked at him from behind. I was actually very embarrassed. We got home before Mom and Cara. I was worried about them being out so late at night. They were a bit later than we thought and were they ever happy to see us home and happy to be discussing the evening. They were astonished that I had actually cornered Stephen Hawking and babbled at him for so long. They laughed and laughed at bad Larry's actual bad driving. I told them the whole story and then when a boy was eventually exhausted Larry helped me get to bed. Larry was too excited to sleep and kept me awake all night by thinking about the evening and my meeting with Stephen Hawking.