science

Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places

Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places rather than just read about it. In short: Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places is an original documentary series that was released exclusively on Curiosity Stream, in partnership with production company Bigger Bang. Stephen Hawking stars in and narrates the series, in which he pilots a Computer-generated imagery (CGI) space ship (the SS Hawking) across the Universe, making stops at some of his favorite places and discussing the scientific significance of each…

Key takeaways

Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places is an original documentary series that was released exclusively on Curiosity Stream, in partnership with production company Bigger Bang. Stephen Hawking stars in and narrates the series, in which he pilots a Computer-generated imagery (CGI) space ship (the SS Hawking) across the Universe, making stops at some of his favorite places and discussing the scientific significance of each location. On October 5, 2017, the series won the News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction, in a category with its peers from Smithsonian Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS and Vox.

Synopsis Episode 1 takes Hawking from black holes to the Big Bang, Saturn to Santa Barbara, California. Episode 2 finds Hawking in search of the theory of everything. He also discusses the Great Filter solution to the Fermi paradox and the dangers of artificial intelligence in a visit to Proxima Centauri b. Episode 3 continues Hawking's fears regarding AI, as well as his search for a theory of everything. He also introduces the multiverse concept and the anthropic principle.

Release The series had a planned release date of April 19, 2018. However, with Hawking's death on March 14, 2018, CuriosityStream released the third episode early, temporarily making all three episodes free to stream on their website as a tribute to Hawking.

Awards and nominations News & Documentary Emmy Award

Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction (Winner, 2017)

Media Coverage International Business Times GeekWire

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places

In research: Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s American documentary television series, 2016 American television series debuts, 2016 English-language television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places in simple terms?

Why does Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places.