LONDON: Science's favourite man, Stephen Hawking is seemingly stumped by the phenomenon that is Donald Trump. The popularity of the presumptive US Republican presidential candidate who can yawn himself into a polemic, is beyond the understanding of the world's most famous living scientist and author of the world's best-selling book.
When asked in an interview, to explain the popular appeal of the billionaire, Hawking, who has contributed to widening the understanding of time, space, and black holes, said, "I can't. He's a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator." Also giving his two pence worth in the Brexit issue, Hawking appealed to British voters to back the remain campaign in the EU referendum on 23rd June. He called the prospect of the British exit as a "disaster" for science.
"Gone are the days when we could stand on our own, against the world. We need to be part of a larger group of nations, both for our security and our trade. The possibility of our leaving the EU has already led to a sharp fall in the pound, because the markets judge that it will damage our economy," Hawking said. He added, "There are two obvious reasons why we should stay in. The first is that it promotes the mobility of people. Students come here from EU countries to study, and our students can go to other EU universities. More importantly, at the level of research, the exchange of people enables skills to transfer more quickly, and brings new people with different ideas, derived from their different backgrounds. The other reason is financial. The European Research Council has given large grants to UK institutions, either to foster or promote exchanges."
Exit vote campaigners however, are unfazed with his opinion. Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said, "The EU has been bad for science, increasing costs and bureaucracy. The clinical trials directive, for example, acted to double the cost of cancer research, as leading scientists and medical practitioners have acknowledged. We give more money to the EU than we get back, meaning we could spend more on science if we vote to leave."
