We’ve all thrown parties (probably) where we’ve been scared to death no one would show up. You can plan all the cool mix tapes and make all the seven-layer dip you want, but if nobody comes over, you’re just a sad person with sixteen bags of tortilla chips and cans of ever-warming soda and beer. But if you’re a literal genius, maybe nobody showing up is exactly what you want. As the world mourns the death of legendary thinker Stephen Hawking, Mashable reminded us that back in 2009, the professor threw a party for time travelers, and he was super stoked when nobody came.
The party was a stunt to prove backwards time travel was not possible. He held the gathering on June 28, 2009, at a specific location at Cambridge University. A precise date and time was listed on the invitation and there were even GPS coordinates, so you’d think people could get there… Oh, also he didn’t send the invitations until AFTER the party. You know, so people could travel back in time to it. But nobody came. Poor Dr. Hawking.
He says in the above video from a documentary for the Discovery Channel:
“I am hoping copies of it, in one form or another, will survive for many thousands of years. Maybe 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.”
This is more or less empirical evidence backward time travel isn’t possible. OR, as might also be possible, paper doesn’t last thousands of years and nobody with a backward time machine ever found his invitation. OR even still, maybe time travelers from thousands of years in the future have better things to do than go to a party in 2009. In any case, I love the little glint in Hawking’s eye at the end of the clip, like he knows he’s been a cheeky scientist.
The world is better for Stephen Hawking having been part of it for 76 years.
Featured Image: Paul Souza/White House Photostream
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
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