Hit for Hawking?

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Excerpts from the recorded speech of Stephen Hawking, Cambridge's previous Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, have been used in a new single "A Glorious Dawn", released on November 9th on rock star Jack White's label "Third Man Records."

The song is an Auto-Tuned remix that uses extracts of dialogue from astronomer Carl Sagan's hugely popular 1980s TV series "Cosmos; A Personal Voyage", along with the voice of Gonville and Caius's renowned fellow.

The date of the release has been scheduled to coincide with what would have been Sagan's 75th birthday. With almost 1.6 million hits on YouTube and a number of blogs already praising its melodic tones and insightful lyrics, the track may well go on to achieve a significant ranking in the pop charts.

The single will be released on 7" vinyl which will bear a special etching on the B-side: a copy of the one that was included with The Voyager Golden Record launched into space in 1977 that contained sounds and images meant to depict life on Earth to extraterrestrials.

Cambridge students reacting to the news have been enthusiastic. They have found the song anywhere from enjoyable to "freaking awesome".

One Queens' computer-scientist said he enjoyed the fact the song is meant to "inspire rather than educate".

The piece is part of a larger project by composer John Boswell titled a "Symphony of Science", and is intended to deliver scientific knowledge in musical form.

Boswell said that this new single is "a musical tribute to two great men of science", known for their concern with diffusing scientific knowledge to the layman, notably via their incredibly successful popular science works. Carl Sagan is, incidentally, the author of the introduction to the first edition of Hawking's bestseller "A Brief History of Time".

Stephen Hawking has already featured in popular culture on several occasions, notably through references and cameos on TV shows such as The Simpsons and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In the past, he has also provided inspiration for MC Hawking, a 'nerdcore' hip-hop artist who enjoys parodying gangster rap as well as Hawking himself with such album titles as "A Brief History of Rhyme: MC Hawking's Greatest Hits".

Despite already having several other achievements to his name, such as his extensive studies of black holes, Hawking's inclusion in a pop record is an accomplishment that has been described by fans and followers at Cambridge as "epic".

Sophie Partarrieu - News Reporter