On June 28, 2009, British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking hosted a party for time travelers in the University of Cambridge. The physicist arranged for balloons, champagne, and nibbles for his guests, but did not send out the invites until the following day, after the party was over.[1]
The party was held at the Gonville and Caius College on Trinity Street (52° 12' 21" N, 0° 7' 4.7" E) at 12:00 UT on June 28, 2009. In preparing for the event, Hawking said he hoped that copies of the invite might survive for thousands of years, and that "one day someone living in the future will find the information and use a wormhole time machine to come back to my party, proving that time travel will one day be possible".[2]
Hawking waited in the room for a few hours before leaving, and no visitors arrived.[3] He regarded the event as "experimental evidence that time travel is not possible".[4][5]
References
- ^ Brandon Specktor (May 14, 2018). "Stephen Hawking's Memorial Might Have Time Travelers in Attendance". Live Science.
- ^ Kaufman, Mark (14 March 2018). "Stephen Hawking hosted a party for time travelers, but no one came". Mashable. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Paul M. Sutter (December 1, 2023). "Stephen Hawking's Time Travel Party – Did it Happen? How Would We Know?". Discover Magazine.
- ^ "Stephen Hawking service: Possibility of time travellers 'can't be excluded'". BBC News. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Staff, Ars (1 July 2012). "Stephen Hawking on time travel, M-theory, and extra terrestrial life". Ars Technica. Retrieved 4 March 2024.