The star of the show

By Our Science Correspondent

MUMBAI, JAN. 6. If Dr. Stephen Hawking is around, there is probably never any question about who the star of the show is. So it was today at the press conference to explain what the strings conference is all about.

People like Dr. John Schwarz, Dr. David Gross and Dr. Edward Witten are legendary figures in physics. But it was Dr. Stephen Hawking that the journalists had come to see and hear. His every move was photographed so much so that the organisers had to ask the photographers to stop. His every word was listened to with rapt attention.

Almost completely paralysed and unable to speak, Dr. Hawking sits slouched in a motorised wheel chair, equipped with a screen in front. A hand-held device allows him to pick words from the screen and form sentences. A speech synthesiser then speaks for him. It is a slow process. Most of the questions were sent to Dr. Hawking in advance and he had kept the answers prepared. But when a question was impromptu, it took him three or four minutes to formulate a reply.

Dr. Hawking has a remarkably expressive face. His face lights up at a joke and the famous Hawking smile appears. When one journalist asked why there was no unanimity among physicists whether the String Theory would be able to provide a unified theory for physical phenomena, Dr. Gross replied ``except for Stephen, it (String Theory) is accepted''.

Later, Dr. Hawking said, ``I accept the String Theory to be the answer. But we don't know how to interpret the answer.'' Did he believe in God? ``I use God as a metaphor for the laws of nature.''

Dr. Hawking will be giving a public lecture in Mumbai on January 14 and subsequently another one at Delhi.

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