Stephen Hawking, the scientist — Do you remember him? Here’s some of his wisdom and common sense.

Here’s a short, very short story about a speech by Stephen Hawking that I heard thirtynine years ago in Boston. Why share a short story, a vignette? Because I believe such stories may bring some wisdom, a smile, common sense reality, a path forward — in our challenging education world — and in our wider world. These gems come from my clients, colleagues, famous people whom I don’t know personally, relatives, passers-by. You get the picture. I do believe that COMMON SENSE, WISDOM, and TRUST can help us create a path forward to improve schools for all students and life for us all. And that — dear friends and colleagues — is always the goal.

Now back to 1984, when I was living in the Boston area and heard Stephen Hawking, the scientist — actually a theoretical physicist — speak at a science teachers conference at the Sheraton Hotel. I wasn’t a science teacher. But I wanted to hear Stephen, whom I considered to be a friend in the physics community, as my husband is also a theoretical physicist.

Hawking, who died in 2018, was very famous. He inspired people all over the world, especially as he did great physics even as he had ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a debilitating disease that confined him at that time to a wheelchair and to needing the help of others to communicate.

Yes, he was inspiring. Do you remember reading and hearing about him?