Stephen Hawking died this week. Stephen Hawking has been the most famous preeminent scientist of my generation. He spoke out on the most pressing predicament human civilization now faces, Climate Change.
Stephen Hawking was well-known for his work on black holes and the theory of relativity. But, the famous physicist, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76, also had some predictions about the future, ranging from topics such as aliens to the end of the world.
Here are some of his most famous predictions.
The earth will turn into a ball of fire
Hawking theorized that humans would turn the planet into a giant ball of fire by 2600 due to overcrowding and energy consumption which will make Earth uninhabitable.
"With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious," he said in a BBC documentary last year\.
Global warming could reach a 'tipping point'
In an interview with the BBC last July, Hawking warned that global warming could reach a point where it can't be reversed.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. (President Donald) Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuric acid," Hawking said.
The scientist criticized Trump's decision last year to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, saying that it would cause "environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children."