I was sadden to hear about the passing of Stephen Hawking.

The last I heard about Hawking was his intention to advance space travel. He was working on spacecraft that could reach a “second earth” in 20 years. Apparently, the craft could have moved at one-fifth the speed of light, meaning it could reach the nearest star and send back images of a suspected second earth within 25 years.

He claimed humanity was in danger and humans must colonize another planet if they are to survive.

Hawking said one explanation for why Earth has not been contacted by an advanced civilizations from another part of the universe is that every time intelligent life evolves it annihilates itself with war, disease and weapons of mass destruction.

I wasn’t a Hawking enthusiast, but I did think he had some interesting assertions. He was probably accurate. Time will tell.

He said, “I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.”
Oh snap! I’ve felt that way on quite a few occasions.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet,” he said. “Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”

While his focus toward the end seemed to be space travel and saving humanity from ourselves, it wasn’t always his entire focus.

“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road,” Hawking said.

I found that to be very profound. He, also, made me feel bad about every time I’ve doubted myself.

“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at,” said Hawking.

My favorite quote is probably this one: “Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.”

Hawking was our Albert Einstein. What will we do now? Hang on tight. Apparently a 12-year-old girl has tested to have a higher IQ than either of those men. The genius benchmark is set at 140. Rajgauri Pawar scored 162, which is two points higher than Einstein and Hawking.

Pawar took the British Mensa IQ test. She is among the 1 percent of people who take the test and gain a maximum mark. She scored the highest possible IQ for someone who is younger than 18. She has joined the British Mensa IQ Society at the age of 12.

The society is for people who score in the top 2 percent and was founded in 1946 in Oxford by Lancelot Lionel Ware and Roland Berrill with a mission to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

At this time, Pawar is the most intelligent person in the world. Well, girls rule and boys drool. That saying isn’t as profound as those by Hawking, but it fits.

Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.