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Hand to God. I was sitting at a small round-table, maybe eight seats, with his nameplate on it. But he got sick and could not come to lunch. Given his illness this does not surprise me, but damn that's an opportunity I may never get again.
Here is how this happened. ASU currently has the Origins Symposium going on, and the Honors College sponsored a lunch with the Nobel Laureates and other guests of honor. I happened to be on my computer when I got the email asking if I wanted to RSVP. I got one of only twenty spots. Well over a hundred students expressed interest. I just lucked out.
Of course, as soon as I sat down at Hawking's table I sent my mom a text message saying I was going to have lunch with him. Her immediate response was "You are not". This is understandable; I have a long-standing reputation for bullshitting her and everybody else in various ways. When I responded that I was serious, her response was "In person?", which is also understandable. Case-in-point: when I say that I am going to spend some time with Stephen Colbert I more often than not mean I am taking my laptop into the break room to watch last night's Colbert Report on Hulu and eat lunch, etc etc. You get the idea.
Of course when I confirm that I mean exactly what I said--literally--she tells me to get a picture. I fully intend to do this. My first thought when we are told that he can't come down for lunch is "My mom is going to think I'm full of shit". She already knows that for a fact, but I was damn excited about this.
Brian Greene, noted string theorist at the next table over, also did not show up, which was also a disappointment because I was hoping to overhear some Q and A from his group. Richard Dawkins (of God Delusion and The Selfish Gene fame) actually did show--he was sitting a few tables over.
My table ended up being sequestered by some astrobiologists and astrophysists who all knew each other from various institutions (the only ones I remember are CalTech and University of Colorado, Boulder), whose names I did not know prior, and they were fucking hilarious. They spent half the time arguing about the reason Titan has landforms and the other half sharing mutual stories about various 'characters' they know. It's a very small, incestuous academic world. One told me about his experiences of being on the receiving end of rampant xenophobia while visiting Japan, and gave me this bit of advice--always, always count your change. Maybe they think gaijin can't count; I don't know. I hope his experiences would not be representative of mine. Yes, I'm white as hell, but I speak Japanese, and I've heard that confers a great deal of respect to gaijin.
It was a wonderful atmosphere--energetic, intellectually-charged, and casual, as is characteristic of academia in the Southwest. I wish I had gotten a chance to mill around and talk to more people, but it ended too soon, and everybody had to adjourn back to the conference. I had to go back to the lab, as much as I wanted to stay for panels. There is a live web cast, of which I am glad, because I didn't get tickets to any of the Big Talks and I would very much like to see them. Stephen Hawking is tomorrow night. I've already seen Dawkins give his talk on The God Delusion, and he's a fascinating public speaker. I don't agree with everything he (or anybody) says, but it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
Here is how this happened. ASU currently has the Origins Symposium going on, and the Honors College sponsored a lunch with the Nobel Laureates and other guests of honor. I happened to be on my computer when I got the email asking if I wanted to RSVP. I got one of only twenty spots. Well over a hundred students expressed interest. I just lucked out.
Of course, as soon as I sat down at Hawking's table I sent my mom a text message saying I was going to have lunch with him. Her immediate response was "You are not". This is understandable; I have a long-standing reputation for bullshitting her and everybody else in various ways. When I responded that I was serious, her response was "In person?", which is also understandable. Case-in-point: when I say that I am going to spend some time with Stephen Colbert I more often than not mean I am taking my laptop into the break room to watch last night's Colbert Report on Hulu and eat lunch, etc etc. You get the idea.
Of course when I confirm that I mean exactly what I said--literally--she tells me to get a picture. I fully intend to do this. My first thought when we are told that he can't come down for lunch is "My mom is going to think I'm full of shit". She already knows that for a fact, but I was damn excited about this.
Brian Greene, noted string theorist at the next table over, also did not show up, which was also a disappointment because I was hoping to overhear some Q and A from his group. Richard Dawkins (of God Delusion and The Selfish Gene fame) actually did show--he was sitting a few tables over.
My table ended up being sequestered by some astrobiologists and astrophysists who all knew each other from various institutions (the only ones I remember are CalTech and University of Colorado, Boulder), whose names I did not know prior, and they were fucking hilarious. They spent half the time arguing about the reason Titan has landforms and the other half sharing mutual stories about various 'characters' they know. It's a very small, incestuous academic world. One told me about his experiences of being on the receiving end of rampant xenophobia while visiting Japan, and gave me this bit of advice--always, always count your change. Maybe they think gaijin can't count; I don't know. I hope his experiences would not be representative of mine. Yes, I'm white as hell, but I speak Japanese, and I've heard that confers a great deal of respect to gaijin.
It was a wonderful atmosphere--energetic, intellectually-charged, and casual, as is characteristic of academia in the Southwest. I wish I had gotten a chance to mill around and talk to more people, but it ended too soon, and everybody had to adjourn back to the conference. I had to go back to the lab, as much as I wanted to stay for panels. There is a live web cast, of which I am glad, because I didn't get tickets to any of the Big Talks and I would very much like to see them. Stephen Hawking is tomorrow night. I've already seen Dawkins give his talk on The God Delusion, and he's a fascinating public speaker. I don't agree with everything he (or anybody) says, but it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
