Professor Stephen Hawking, the eminent British scientist and author of A Brief History of Time, has warned that mankind will need to leave planet Earth to ensure the long-term survival of the human race.
Hawking (64) was speaking in London on Thursday ahead of the presentation of a major science award, the Royal Society’s Copley Medal.
Scientists may be within 20 years of reaching his prediction that mankind will one day ”know the mind of God by understanding all the laws which govern the universe”, Hawking said in a BBC interview.
He said that this knowledge may be vital to the human race’s continued existence.
”The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet. Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe,” Hawking argued.
”There isn’t anywhere like the Earth in the solar system, so we would have to go to another star,” he noted.
Hawking, who is wheelchair-bound and now almost completely paralysed by a type of motor-neurone disease, disclosed his ambition to go into space.
He appealed to British tycoon Richard Branson, who is planning a space tourism venture, to make his ”dream come true”. — Sapa-dpa