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My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Hawking's life's work compressed into a mission statement: not a theory of one corner of physics, but the whole answer, how the universe works and why there is one at all. Fans quote it because it states the ambition without hedging, and because it frames the later Brief History of Time reputation: a man in a wheelchair aiming at the biggest question there is. It turns up on posters, in physics lecture openings and in tributes.
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The earliest printed source Wikiquote gives is John Boslough's 1985 book Stephen Hawking's Universe, which quotes Hawking stating his goal in chapter 7, "The Final Question" (page 77). There he sets out the whole ambition of his career in two sentences: a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all. It is quoted as a remark made to the author rather than a line from one of Hawking's own papers or books. The wording on the site matches the Wikiquote text.
Sources (1)
- Wikiquote: Stephen Hawkingentry 'My goal is simple...' with its citationReference checked
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