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Stephen Hawking publishes expanding universe thesis online to 'inspire the world'

Shared knowledge: Stephen Hawking has shared his 1966 thesis on expanding universes for all to read: AFP/Getty Images
Shared knowledge: Stephen Hawking has shared his 1966 thesis on expanding universes for all to read: AFP/Getty Images

Stephen Hawking’s doctoral thesis Properties of Expanding Universes has been published online for all to read.

The scientist wrote the paper in 1966 as a 24 year-old postgraduate at Cambridge University, and it helped establish his reputation as one of the world’s leading professors.

The document has been published to mark the start of Open Access Week, an initiative promoting increased access to knowledge, academic collaboration, and better visibility for new research.

Hawking hopes that the thesis being made freely available will ‘inspire’ readers.

(Stephen Hawking)
(Stephen Hawking)

“By making my PhD thesis open access, I hope to inspire people around the world to look up at the stars and not down at their feet; to wonder about our place in the universe and to try and make sense of the cosmos,” he said.

“Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and inquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding.”

The thesis finds that “galaxies cannot be formed as a result of the growth of perturbations that were initially small”, and that “a singularity is inevitable provided that certain very general conditions are satisfied”.

Dr Arthur Smith, Deputy Head of Scholarly Communication at Cambridge University, said: “PhD theses contain a vast trove of untapped and unique information just waiting to be used, but which is often locked away from view and scrutiny.

“From October 2017 onwards, all PhD students graduating from the University of Cambridge will be required to deposit an electronic copy of their doctoral work for future preservation. And like Professor Hawking, we hope that many students will also take the opportunity to freely distribute their work online by making their thesis Open Access.”