Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds to have ever lived, died recently.
In 2015 he spoke at the BBC Reith Lecture at the Royal Institute in London. At the very end of his two lectures on black holes he drew a poetic parallel between black holes and depression, with a message of hope to those suffering from mental health difficulties. Hawking said:
The message of this lecture is that black holes ain’t as black as they are painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought.
Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly to another universe. So if you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up – there’s a way out.
If you would like to read the full transcripts of these absorbing lectures (with annotations by the BBC’s Science Editor David Shukman) they are available to download here:
Stephen Hawking BBC Reith Lecture – 1
Stephen Hawking BBC Reith Lecture – 2
The full lecture is available to listen to on BBC iPlayer in two separate Radio 4 broadcasts.
You can listen to these lectures, and other Reith lectures, HERE
