Stephen Hawking in popular culture

Stephen William Hawking is probably the most famous scientist alive today and has entered popular culture. This is due to his contributions to science and endurance of severe disabilities.

Appeared as himself

 * Alien Planet. This is a special on the Discovery Channel.


 * Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Episode 1752) . He was in a skit in which he made a phone call to guest Jim Carrey.


 * Red Dwarf. Hawking appeared in a special program of the popular British science fiction series. He praised its creators for their witty use of (pseudo) scientific theories and said he enjoyed watching the show.


 * Star Trek: The Next Generation.
 * At the beginning of the Season 6 cliffhanger, "Descent, Part 1", Data is seen playing poker with holographic depictions of Stephen Hawking, Sir Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Hawking portrayed his own hologram for this episode, making him the only person in any Star Trek series to play himself.  When taking a tour of the set, he paused at the Warp core, smiled, and said, "I'm working on that."
 * Brent Spiner (who played Data) reportedly quipped, in an obviously tongue-in-cheek manner, that Hawking's cameo was "the most notable moment in television history since Albert Einstein guest-starred on Gunsmoke".
 * Also, in the final episode of the series, "All Good Things...", in an alternate future, Data has assumed the Lucasian professorship at Cambridge, the post that Hawking currently holds.

Appeared in cartoon form

 * Computer Stew. Hawking's image was animated and used as a character in several episodes.


 * Dilbert. Was featured in an episode about Dilbert's project, the Gruntmaster 6000, creating a black hole to wipe out all life on Earth.  During the episode, it is "revealed" that Hawking has the power to travel through both time and space via wormholes, and Dilbert learns the hard way that you should never bet money that a theoretical physicist can't do something.


 * Fairly Odd Parents. Hawking appeared throughout the episode "Remy Rides Again", in a mechanical flying wheelchair with a rocket on the back of it, which at the end of the episode, disappeared in a way similar to that in which the Delorean went back in time in Back to the Future.  Hawking was played by Dee Bradley Baker in this episode.  Hawking was hired by Remy to prove that 2 + 2 = 5, and was also Crocker's room-mate in college. Then Crocker found out that 2+2 actually equalled 6.


 * Family Guy.
 * Hawking's persona has been featured in the episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater"; it is a very brief cameo during the song "This House Is Freaking Sweet"; Hawking is presented as the man who will help Chris do his homework.
 * Additionally, a character known as Disabled Guy or "Paraplegic Guy" appears to be largely based on Hawking. The character made his first appearance in the episode "Ready, Willing, and Disabled", as a competitor in the Special People's Games.
 * In the episode "Brian Goes Back to College", he is portrayed as Brian's advanced-physics professor, who is known as "Steve". In this episode, he is shown as having a wife with the same condition.
 * In the episode "Brian the Bachelor", he appeared as one of the people being interviewed to be on an episode of The Bachelorette.


 * Futurama. Made a guest appearance as a member of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers, who guard the space-time continuum and include Al Gore, Nichelle Nichols, Gary Gygax, and their summer intern Deep Blue.


 * The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He was mentioned in the episode " Test of Time" as Stephen Hawkwing.


 * Pinky and the Brain. In an episode in which a black hole is used as a weapon, Pinky throws it out of a hotel room window in defiance of the laws of physics.  Brain notes that he must consult with Stephen Hawking.


 * The Simpsons. Made a few guest appearances on the long-running prime-time cartoon:
 * In "They Saved Lisa's Brain", Hawking saves Lisa from the power-hungry Springfield chapter of Mensa in a special wheelchair, complete with an Inspector Gadget–style retractable helicopter attachment and a spring-loaded boxing glove. In the episode, Homer says to Lisa "Did you have fun with your robot buddy?". Later, Homer mistakenly calls Hawking Larry Flynt.
 * In "Treehouse of Horror VI", Homer makes a reference to Stephen Hawking when he is transported to a three-dimensional zone, and moans "There's so much I don't know about astrophysics. I wish I read that book by that wheelchair guy."
 * Hawking is seen in a line of people about to board a space ship to Mars in "Life's A Glitch, Then You Die", a segment of "Treehouse of Horror X", in which the Earth is doomed by the millennium bug.
 * Hawking is also referenced in the episode where Sideshow Bob is temporarily released to help Homer find a person who is trying to kill him. Homer lists Stephen Hawking as someone who would want to kill him.
 * During the British Comedy Awards 2004, Hawking was presented with a one-off toy version of himself in Simpson form by Matt Groening, complete with boxing glove. Hawking presented Groening with a lifetime achievement award.
 * In the Season 16 episode "Don't Fear the Roofer", he is a friend of Lenny and the owner of the Little Caesars restaurant down the block from Moe's Tavern. Prof. Hawking shows up to explain that Bart couldn't see Ray (guest voice Ray Romano) during one scene because there was a black hole between the two of them, leading to Homer being put into a mental hospital.


 * The Wrong Coast. A segment of the show tells about a movie called Party Time Continuum, in which Hawking is portrayed as a time-travelling party-animal played by Seth Green.


 * Weebl and Bob. In their clip Balance, Stephen Hawking flies across the screen in his buggy and the various characters play around with his speech synthesiser against his will, making it say strange things.

Referenced

 * The Colbert Report. Stephen Hawking is Stephen Colbert's least favourite theoretical physicist. On this Comedy Central TV show Stephen Hawking is made fun of for his far-out plan to start moving humans to other planets. However the skit was an example of sarcasm, since Stephen Colbert was actually making fun of Daniel Henninger on Fox News due to his having criticizing Stephen Hawking on an issue of which he has no professional knowledge.


 * The Critic. Jay and his new trucker friends go to see "Ultimate Force" at a drive-in, which one of the truckers states will most definitely feature "a tough guy on wheels." The movie turns out to feature Hawking discussing his theories on relative force.


 * Dexter's Laboratory. Professor Hawke, obviously based on Hawking, plays the reclusive owner of a computer company, and the host of a contest that Deedee wins by finding a golden diskette (a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).


 * Doctor Who. During the episode Doomsday, Mickey Smith states “It's like Stephen Hawking meets the speaking clock” during an argument between two Cybermen and a Dalek.


 * Donnie Darko. Referenced multiple times.


 * The Friday Night Project. Every week in the 2006 series a voice purporting to be Hawking's, accompanied by a caption slide of a photograph of Hawking asks a contestant a quiz question, and confirms whether it is the correct answer.


 * Hawking. Hawking's time at Cambridge University as a Ph.D. student was the subject of this 2004 BBC TV movie.  Hawking was played by Benedict Cumberbatch.


 * TV Offal. Hawking appeared alongside Victor Lewis-Smith in the pre-credit sequences for this short-lived British comedy show.


 * Lazy Monday - Chronicles of Narnia Rap - West Coast Repsonse. Hawking's image is displayed as the rappers discuss reading another's mind faster than he read " A Brief History of Time."


 * Law and Order: Criminal Intent.' An episode entitled "Inert Dwarf" was widely interpreted as a reference to recent suggestions that Hawking had been a victim of physical abuse. The story concerns a fictional wheelchair-bound physicist who is apparently subjected to assaults by his carer.

Music and Radio

 * Bob & Tom Show. Hawking is portrayed (and his computerised voice simulated) in a spoof of the show I'm with Busey.  At the end of the spoof, he's heard cursing his room-mate for being so stupid.


 * The Creedence and Bishop Show. Stephen Hawking and Friends are often heard on the show reinacting scenes from their favorite movies. heard from 2pm to 7pm on Carolina's Pure Rock, Rock 105.5, WXQR.


 * Juno Reactor. Hawking is quoted in the track "Landing" from electronica/ambient band Juno Reactor's album Transmissions.


 * Pink Floyd. Hawking gave his "voice" to parts of the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking".


 * Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. Richard and Hawking sing "The Girl Is Mine" as a charming duet on the album Aperitif for Destruction.  (Celebrity voices impersonated.)


 * Robin Williams, on his 2002 DVD Robin Williams: Live at the Broadway, mentioned that "I called Stephen Hawking's house once. 'Hello this is Stephen Hawking' 'Yes, I'd like to leave a message.' 'No. This IS Stephen Hawking.'"


 * The Voyage. The New York City Metropolitan Opera commissioned an opera in 1992 by composer Philip Glass to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World, which featured a wheelchair-bound scientist based on Stephen Hawking.  Glass also wrote the music for the documentary A Brief History of Time.

Books, comics and newspapers

 * Ancient Shores. In this science fiction novel, he is one of several luminaries who are heroes of climax of the novel.


 * The Brushback. Hawking was said by this satirical online newspaper to have been narrowly beaten out by Kordell Stewart for the job of Baltimore Ravens backup quarterback.


 * Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The main character, nine-year-old Oskar Schell, writes letters to Stephen Hawkins frequently and once even receives a letter by Hawkins that is addressed directly to him.


 * MC Hawking. The imaginary alter-ego for the "theoretical physicist turned gangster-rapper", MC Hawking's songs parody Hawking's distinctive speech synthesiser. Song titles include "E=MC Hawking" (“I explode like a bomb/no one is spared/my power is my mass times the speed of light squared”), "Fuck the Creationists" ("Fuck the damn creationists I say it with authority/because kicking their punk asses be my paramount priority") and "Entropy" ("You down with entropy?") The success of the MC Hawking amongst internet users eventually led to a 'greatest hits' compilation CD entitled A Brief History of Rhyme (a play on Hawking's A Brief History of Time book title). Hawking himself is said to be flattered by the parody.


 * The Onion. Satirical newspaper ran an article claiming that Hawking had constructed himself a super-powered robotic exoskeleton, complete with a jetpack and claws that can rip through tanks.  Hawking, with his typical good humour, sent them a letter cursing them for exposing his evil plans for world domination. Hawking also had a printout of the article pinned up in his Cambridge office for some time after it was published.


 * Ultimate X-Men-- In Ultimate X-Men #25, there is a reference to Stephen Hawking having written an article on mutants, apparently stating that they were mankind's last hope against the rise of artificial intelligence. This makes him one of the rare humans who sympathize with mutants.

Other media

 * Shin Megami Tensei. In this videogame there is a wheelchair-bound character who is obviously based on Stephen Hawking, though he is never named.
 * Chapman Brothers. The British artists produced a sculpture entitled Übermensch depicting Hawking in his wheelchair on top of a rocky outcrop.