The PLANCKS participants from fourteen countries had the privilege to enjoy the speakers of the opening symposium from the front rows. Behind them were some 500 lucky ones – mostly students, or so it seemed – who had managed to buy a ticket (which were all gone in under a minute!). Press was well-represented at the Beatrix Theater, too (including your Cursor correspondent) especially considering it was a scientific symposium.
 
After introductions by Utrecht Nobel Prize winner Gerard ‘t Hooft (who delivered a very accessible presentation on the Higgs boson), and the German Immanuel Bloch (who proved that a table-top experiment with ultracold gases  can be just as exciting as a multi-billion-dollar particle accelerator), the moment the press photographers had been waiting for finally arrived: Stephen Hawking took the stage. The cult hero of science, who’s had cameos in Star Trek, The Simpsons, and South Park, was welcomed like a rock star.
 
The British physicist and cosmologist, who’s been wheelchair-ridden for decades owing to ALS and communicates through a speech computer, held a one-hour presentation on the origin of the cosmos. It was preprogrammed, because Hawking only has one cheek muscle left with which he can operate the computer, producing a few words a minute. The impediment caused the presentation, despite the jokes, to come across fairly mechanical, especially with the characteristic, tinny sound of Hawking’s computer. The sound system of the theater amplified his ‘voice’, which led to ringing ears. Quite fitting, after a rock star performance.