God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.
In "The Grand Design," co-authored with US physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.
"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."
Hawking, 68, who won global recognition with his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time," an account of the origins of the universe, is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity.
Since 1974, the scientist has worked on marrying the two cornerstones of modern physics -- Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which concerns gravity and large-scale phenomena, and quantum theory, which covers subatomic particles.
His latest comments suggest he has broken away from previous views he has expressed on religion. Previously, he wrote that the laws of physics meant it was simply not necessary to believe that God had intervened in the Big Bang.
He wrote in A Brief History ... "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God."
Hawking, who is only able to speak through a computer-generated voice synthesizer, has a neuro muscular dystrophy that has progressed over the years and left him almost completely paralyzed.
He began suffering the disease in his early 20s but went on to establish himself as one of the world's leading scientific authorities, and has also made guest appearances in "Star Trek" and the cartoons "Futurama" and "The Simpsons."
「The Grand Design」 is due to go on sale next week.
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)
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(Agencies)
英國著名理論物理學家史蒂芬•霍金在新書中稱，上帝並沒有創造宇宙，宇宙大爆炸理論是物理定律的必然結果。
在《泰晤士報》周四刊登的《大設計》的摘選片段中，霍金稱新創立的一套理論認為宇宙造物主是多餘的。《大設計》是霍金和美國物理學家裡奧納德•曼羅迪諾共同撰寫的。
霍金寫道：「因為萬有引力等定律，宇宙可以並會從無到有，自發形成。自發創造可以解釋宇宙中並非無物存在、為什麼宇宙存在以及為什麼我們存在。」
「沒必要請上帝來點燃藍色導火紙，讓宇宙誕生。」
68歲的霍金憑藉他1988年出版的《時間簡史》一書在全球聲名鵲起。《時間簡史》講述了宇宙的起源，該書以霍金在黑洞理論、宇宙學和量子引力方面的研究而著稱。
自1974年以來，這位科學家一直致力於結合現在物理學的兩大基石——阿爾伯特•愛因斯坦的廣義相對論和量子論。廣義相對論涉及萬有引力和宏觀現象，量子論研究的是次原子粒子。
他最新的評論表明他已經和他先前在宗教上表達的觀點決裂。先前，他寫道，物理定律意味著沒必要相信上帝介入了宇宙大爆炸。
他在《時間簡史》中寫道：「如果我們發現了一套完整的理論，這將會是人類理性的終極勝利——因為我們將了解上帝的思想。」
霍金只能藉助電腦語音合成器來講話，他患有神經性肌肉萎縮症，並且症狀逐年加重，直至幾乎完全癱瘓。
他從20出頭時就患上了這一疾病，但是依然使自己成為全球的頂尖科學權威人士，並客串過電影《星際迷航》和卡通片《飛出個未來》和《辛普森一家》。
《大設計》預計於下周上市。
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（中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馮明惠）