''Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places'' is an original documentary series that was released exclusively on Curiosity Stream, in partnership with production company Bigger Bang.

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

stars in and narrates the series, in which he pilots a

Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

(CGI) space ship (the SS Hawking) across the Universe, making stops at some of his favorite places and discussing the scientific significance of each location. On October 5, 2017, the series won the

News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...

for Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction, in a category with its peers from Smithsonian Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS and Vox.

Synopsis

Episode 1 takes Hawking from black holes to the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. Episode 2 finds Hawking in search of the

theory of everything A theory of everything (TOE), final theory, ultimate theory, unified field theory, or master theory is a hypothetical singular, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical physics, theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links togeth ...

. He also discusses the Great Filter solution to the

Fermi paradox The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence. Those affirming the paradox generally conclude that if the conditions required ...

and the dangers of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

in a visit to Proxima Centauri b. Episode 3 continues Hawking's fears regarding AI, as well as his search for a theory of everything. He also introduces the

multiverse The multiverse is the hypothetical set of all universes. Together, these universes are presumed to comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describ ...

concept and the

anthropic principle In cosmology, the anthropic principle, also known as the observation selection effect, is the proposition that the range of possible observations that could be made about the universe is limited by the fact that observations are only possible in ...

Release

The series had a planned release date of April 19, 2018. However, with Hawking's death on March 14, 2018, CuriosityStream released the third episode early, temporarily making all three episodes free to stream on their website as a tribute to Hawking.

Awards and nominations

* ''Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction (Winner, 2017)''

Media Coverage

* ''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...

'' * '' GeekWire''

References

{{Reflist 2016 American television series debuts 2010s American documentary television series American educational television series American non-fiction web series Documentary films about outer space Documentary web series Cultural depictions of Stephen Hawking CuriosityStream original programming