BackMy father has a legacy that is to be proud of: Lucy Hawking
The author on growing up with a famously brilliant and disabled father, Stephen Hawking, and the inspiration behind the books
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New Delhi: Lucy Hawking, an author of children’s books and daughter of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, spoke in an interview about growing up with a famously brilliant and disabled father, how her son’s birthday party prompted her to write books with him, and the forthcoming Hollywood film about her parents.
The 45-year-old author of four children’s books about a boy’s adventures in the universe is in New Delhi for the Bookaroo Festival where she will give a talk on Saturday.
Edited excerpts:
What gave you the idea to write George’s adventure series?
The idea came when I saw my father interacting with some young kids at my son’s birthday party. I could see how interested they were in the work he had done. They were talking to him about black holes and the end of universe, and what would happen if they flew too close to the sun, or if the sun were to disappear from the sky.
They were so interested in the answers that I realized that there was something here. And what I could see was something really exciting and interesting that young children were really interested in such topics, and that my father was really good at giving clear answers that they could understand. And that gave me the inspiration to think of a character like George, who had adventures that allowed him to travel around the universe. But when George travels around the universe and goes through the doorway which allows him to visit any place he wants to in the known universe, what you read about is an accurate reflection of the knowledge we do have.
Originally we wrote the books to try and explain to my son the kind of science that his grandfather and colleagues have worked on. When my son and his friends were asking all these questions to my father, I went out looking for a book that I could buy for my son and his friends that would explain that kind of work and I found nothing. All I could see is textbooks, books for adults and science fiction. And science fiction is really fun, but it doesn’t tell you anything about reality. We tried to create something that could answer the questions that kids were asking in an interesting way.
You co-wrote the books with Stephen Hawking. What roles did you both play in writing the books?
Well, I come from an arts background and, as we all know, he is a scientist. So there were two very different skills that we brought to the project. My father had never worked on anything which was an attempt to write a dramatic storyline about astrophysics. So it was very exciting and interesting for him to try and frame his thoughts in a completely different way. And it was very interesting for me to try and tackle the challenge of incorporating information and educational material into a dramatic narrative.
What kind of work went into writing a children’s fantasy book that is rooted in real science?
We were very careful in making sure that fantasy storyline teaches you something. So if George and Anne visit a planet, then you would learn something either about the planet or the gravity of the planet. A child would know what would it be like to be on a planet with high gravity, what would it be like to be on a planet very close to a star, or what would happen if you fly too close to a black hole.
It is an interesting experience to fact-check for fictional work and we tried to be as accurate as possible. Obviously, there is some fantasy there because it is a story and we are trying to reach kids. Like we have a supercomputer Cosmos that George uses to go to any part of the known universe. Such a computer doesn’t exist. But there is actually a supercomputer at Cambridge University called Cosmos, and that is where we got the whole concept of a supercomputer, which is actually one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world.
Even science-fiction films today are trying to retain as much accurate science as possible. Interstellar, for example, actually managed to simulate what a black hole would look like.
It’s interesting you mention that. Chris Nolan worked with Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist, for Interstellar. Four years ago, Kip Thorne wrote a piece in George and the Big Bang, which describes wormholes. So in some ways, we were ahead of Interstellar (laughs).
Can you describe your childhood, growing up as Stephen Hawking’s daughter?
He wasn’t famous when I was growing up. A Brief History of Time got published around 1987. I was already 18 and leaving home at that stage. When I was growing up, he was well known only among theoretical physicists, who made it under 500 at that time. So I did not grow up with a famous father.
But he was also a brilliant man and a genius, and he was also quite profoundly disabled even when I was a child. That affected my childhood quite significantly. It was very difficult at that time in Cambridge or any place in the world, as people were not used to seeing disabled people in-charge of their own destiny. He had an automatic wheelchair that he drove himself and people found that quite shocking to find a disabled person driving his wheelchair with his children, and so people used to stare a lot and it was very intrusive. It was quite upsetting as a child.
It is hard to have a conversation with my father for technical reasons because there is a time delay. You ask a question and his rate of speech is very low now, it is being produced by the movement of one cheekbone. You have to be very patient. So that is one thing. There are so many people around you all the time, it can be hard to carve out that opportunity to have a private conversation without lots of people being there. But my father has also been very inspiring to a lot of people. He has a legacy that is to be proud of.
Did you share any memorable moments while working on the books?
I once read him a part of the scriptwhen we were all sitting around the dinner table. And he laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair. I’ve never seen that happen before. His assistants had to jump in front of him and grab him. It was the part of the book where George’s grandmother appears, and George’s grandmother is modelled on my own grandmother, my father’s mother. And he just burst out laughing.
I’m also very proud to say that I have written more books with my father than anyone else has.
There’s a Hollywood film releasing, ‘The Theory of Everything’, which is based on your parents’ life. Are you looking forward to it, or do you think it might be a little intrusive?
I’ve included it in my talk to the kids. That there is now a Hollywood movie about the life of my parents, an incredible story about Jane and Stephen Hawking, and I show them the photo of the actress who plays me, because I am just six years old in the film.
I do think that it is a little intrusive. I think there is an uncomfortable aspect to having your family life being made into a film and that is something I have struggled with in thinking about this film. On the other hand, I suppose for sometime I have accepted that my father is so famous that somebody was going to make a film about his life. And I am glad that it is a good film.
Who are the most inspiring people in your life?
Both my parents. If it wasn’t for my mother, many things in my father’s life would actually not have happened because she provided the inspiration and the determination to keep going at a stage when he just wanted to give up, when he was told that he had the disease. And my father because he is an extraordinary man, he is a genius, he is a pioneer, he is a hero, and incredibly brave. A bit grumpy sometimes, but aren’t we all? (laughs)
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