Hawking's ability to explain abstruse scientific concepts to laymen has given him a worldwide following. In China, whose communist government regularly preaches that scientific prowess is crucial to the country's future power, Hawking has near-superstar status.
When he was wheeled onstage 20 minutes into the event, the audience rushed forward, taking pictures with their mobile phones.
Many stood and craned to see him better throughout the talk, and one man in the fifth row watched Hawking through binoculars.
Xu Fanrong, a 23-year-old student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Physics in Beijing, praised Hawking's pithy and humorous remarks during the 90-minute public event. He said Hawking's appearance could help inspire more young Chinese to study physics.
"Our country needs science," said Xu. "No basic science means no basic technology and no economic development."
Other speakers at the seminar included Edward Witten, winner of the Fields Medal in mathematics in 1990; David J. Gross, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for physics; and Harvard University physics professor Andy Strominger.
And one of Hawkings comments:
Asked about the environment, Hawking — who suffers from a degenerative disease, uses a wheelchair and speaks through a computerized voice synthesizer — said he was "very worried about global warming." He said he was afraid Earth "might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade [482 degrees Celsius] and raining sulfuric acid."
We need a focus on science here, not on Inelligent Design.
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