Stephen Hawking admitted ‘A Brief History of Time’ was written from wrong perspective, claims collaborator

Stephen Hawking's groundbreaking book ‘A Brief History of Time’ was written from the wrong perspective as per the scientist himself, claims Thomas Hertog, a cosmologist at the KU Leuven University in Belgium and former collaborator of the English scientist. Hertog says that Hawking called him into his chambers in the year 2002 and said, “I have changed my mind. My book,A Brief History of Time, is written from the wrong perspective.”

After the announcement, both Hawking and Hertog began working on a new way to better understand the universe. The final output of the duo's brainstorming sessions will be released in the form of a booktitled "On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s final theory" next month.

The book title drives inspiration from Charles Darwin's ever-popular "On the Origin of Species". Speaking about the relation, Hertog said while writing the book, both of them realisedthat physics and biology were much more alike and thus put the two subjects on the 'same footing'.Hertog claims the book is“profoundly Darwinian” in spirit.

Releasing five years after Hawking's death, the book will go to print in the UK with Hertog expected to outline the themes discussed in the book at the Cambridge festival lecture, later this month.

“Stephen told me he now thought he had been wrong and so he and I worked, shoulder to shoulder, for the next 20 years to develop a new theory of the cosmos, one that could better account for the emergence of life,” said Hertog.

The scientist added that Hawking struggled to understand how the universe created conditions so perfectly hospitable for life. It was one of the prominent reasons why the British physicist cast aspersions over his book.

Notably, Hawkin's book was first published in 1988 and explained the fundamental theories of the universe to non-scientists in a cogent, easy-to-understand way. The book instantly became an international bestseller and to this day, it has sold over 10 million copies.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: