Stephen Hawking's Universe


Stephen Hawking's Universe is an astronomical documentary from 1997 made for the PBS featuring the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The six-episode series discusses the history of astronomy as well as black holes and dark matter.

Brief

  1. Seeing is Believing
  2. The Big Bang
  3. Cosmic Alchemy
  4. On the Dark Side
  5. Black Holes and Beyond
  6. An Answer to Everything
An extensive online companion site was produced to accompany the documentary. The online companion covers history of cosmology, unanswered questions and other topics related to the program. It was designed to function as both a supplement to the series and a stand-alone web piece. Along with details explaining terminology, different models of the universe, biographies of famous historical figures in cosmology and content derived from the program, the web companion included discussions by contemporary cosmologists of "unsolved mysteries", an opportunity to ask questions, as well as suggestions for experiments.

Reception

The series was panned by critics. A review in The Age called the series "dull educational programming" that was "simply boring" and "visually weak", noting that Hawking's involvement was "mainly used here for name value". Jim Dawson wrote in Minneapolis's Star Tribune that reading Hawking's book was better than watching the PBS TV series, because "The book is less infuriating...The series seems afraid it might scare you with too much science."