Stephen Hawking - Scientist (d. March 14, 2018)
"A Brief History Of Time" blew my mind when I first read it. "The Theory Of Everything" was even more mind blowing. All written by a genius, Stephen Hawking, who has now gone beyond the fabric of space time. None of what Hawking wrote was easy to understand, unless you have a theoretical physics foundation. It did help me understand #StarTrek more and the cosmology (not the study of beauty 😀) of the universe down to quantum mechanics. At most, Hawking was a logician who opened others to the possibilities of what exists that we know little about. Even today, despite the theories of black holes, no one has ever been inside of one. We can only deduce what it would be like based on scientific theory that can be mathematically proven.
While social commentators like to talk without proof, Hawking backs it up with academic research. I don't know for sure if Hawking inspired Elon Musk to go to Mars, but the fate of the planet with the rate of energy consumption, population growth, rising sea level and effects of global warming are leading to a new frontier for humans to explore. Too many idealists are trying to save the planet, but in reality it is humanity that needs to be saved. The Earth has been around for billions of years and just recently given rise to life. Man may have to explore other worlds. It doesn't have to end on Mars, space is an infinite realm which Hawking has presented to us in theory. It's now up to humans to explore it for the benefit of survival.