Stephen Hawking
(Image credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

When I was growing up, Stephen Hawking was pretty much the closest thing to a genuine hero I had. But before I saw A Brief History of Time, thinking about physics was like watching water boil. All I could think about was the scientist's incredible mind-power, which seemed to make any of my bothers seem small.

Today, a friend texted me that Hawking was in the neighborhood. Apparently, he was visiting with doctors and scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, better known as The Place Where Celebrities Are Treated For Exhaustion. In real life, Cedars-Sinai is a top-notch research hospital, endowed by celebrities and wealthy Hollywood types.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.