The New England Patriots, like so many around the world, were saddened to learn of the death of Stephen Hawking on Wednesday.
Hawking, who died of undisclosed reasons at age 76, was best known for being one of the first scientists to hypothesize that Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity could coexist with the quantum field theory. This led Hawking to assert that the universe began as a singularity within a black hole and eventually expanded in an event now known as “the big bang.” Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that rendered him paralyzed and wheelchair-ridden for much of his life.
To honor the late theoretical physicist, the Patriots tweeted photos of a meeting between Hawking and team owner Robert Kraft.
Now that is an awesome Patriots jersey.
Attempting to put Hawking’s life — and death — into perspective is a bit of a fool’s errand, so we’ll leave it to famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
“His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake. But it’s not empty,” Tyson tweeted Wednesday.
“Think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of spacetime that defies measure. Stephen Hawking, RIP 1942-2018.”
