Even Stephen Hawking makes mistakes – he's wrong about the Israel boycott | Steve Caplan

I respect Hawking for his brilliance and personal courage in overcoming tremendous obstacles, but his decision to support the boycott of Israel is contrary to the nature of academiaI followed the news of Professor Stephen Hawking's decision to decline an invitation as an honored speaker at the conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres with great disappointment. Let me first note that Prof Hawking is a personal hero of mine, someone who has overcome unbelievable obstacles. His perseverance and courage in rising to scientific feats is awe-inspiring. Indeed, my 11-year-old son recently chose Prof Hawking as a topic for a speech about "someone who has overcome obstacles" – and having won the school contest, found that a child from another school had chosen the same topic at the district championship. Prof Hawking ranked highly on the list with Helen Keller and others who have overcome great odds in the course of their lives. Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Stephen Hawking Science Israel Higher education Palestinian territories Source Type: news