Hawking's time traveller party
On 28 June 2009, British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking hosted a party for time travellers in the University of Cambridge. The physicist arranged for balloons, champagne, and nibbles for his guests, but did not send out the invitations until the following day, after the party was over.[1]
The party was held at Gonville and Caius College on Trinity Street (52° 12' 21" N, 0° 7' 4.7" E) at 12:00 UT on 28 June 2009. In preparing for the event, Hawking said he hoped that copies of the invitation might survive for thousands of years, and that "one day someone living in the future will find the information and use a wormhole time machine to come back to my party, proving that time travel will one day be possible".[2]
Invitations say that the reader is "cordially invited to a reception for Time Travellers" and that no RSVP is required.[3] Hawking waited in the room for a few hours before leaving, and no visitors arrived.[4] He regarded the event as "experimental evidence that time travel is not possible"[5][6] though his estate has claimed the possibility cannot be ruled out and allowed people with dates of birth as late as December 31st, 2038 to attend his funeral 9 years later.[7]
Possible proposed explanations for no attendendees include:[8]
- Time travel to the past is impossible or never achieved by humanity.
- Going back in time creates a parallel timeline that has no impact on the original.[9]
- Records of the party are lost.
References
[edit]- ^ Brandon Specktor (14 May 2018). "Stephen Hawking's Memorial Might Have Time Travelers in Attendance". Live Science.
- ^ Kaufman, Mark (14 March 2018). "Stephen Hawking hosted a party for time travelers, but no one came". Mashable. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Reynolds, Emma (15 March 2018). "Stephen Hawking's champagne-fuelled time travel party". news.com.au. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
- ^ Paul M. Sutter (1 December 2023). "Stephen Hawking's Time Travel Party – Did it Happen? How Would We Know?". Discover Magazine.
- ^ "Stephen Hawking service: Possibility of time travellers 'can't be excluded'". BBC News. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Staff, Ars (1 July 2012). "Stephen Hawking on time travel, M-theory, and extra terrestrial life". Ars Technica. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Stephen Hawking service: Possibility of time travellers 'can't be excluded'". 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
- ^ "Why Did No One Come To Stephen Hawking's Time Traveler Party?". IFLScience. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
- ^ Shoshany, Barak (24 April 2022). "Time travel could be possible, but only with parallel timelines". The Conversation. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
Video
[edit]52°12′21″N 0°7′4.7″E / 52.20583°N 0.117972°E
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