Report: Stephen Hawking's Final Paper Lays Framework to Test 'Multiverse Theory'

The final paper which Professor Stephen Hawking filed before his death last week “lays the framework for how researchers could someday test the ‘multiverse’ theory,” according to a report.

USA Today reported that the paper, which Stephen Hawking co-authored with Thomas Hertog, “lays the framework for how researchers could someday test the ‘multiverse’ theory, or the existence of an infinite number of universes in addition to our own.”

“The paper, titled A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation, was first submitted by Hawking’s fellow co-author Thomas Hertog in July 2017,” they explained. “The latest version of the paper was submitted on March 4, just days before Hawking’s death.”

Though the Sunday Times claimed Hawking and Hertog would be potential candidates for the Nobel Prize if the theory is correct, it has been noted that Nobel Prizes “cannot be awarded posthumously,” meaning Hawking will never have a chance to receive the prize.

“He has often been nominated for the Nobel and should have won it,” proclaimed Hertog. “Now he never can.”

Hawking died “peacefully at his home in Cambridge” last Wednesday, age 76.

Following news of his death, Hawking received tributes from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the television show The Big Bang Theory, physicist Brian Cox, actor Eddie Redmayne (who played Hawking in the biopic Theory of Everything), and Hawking’s alma mater Cambridge University.

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.