Stephen Hawking was 24 years old when he published his doctoral thesis "Properties of expanding universes," in which he examined the consequences of a universe if it were forever growing. It was 1966, and Hawking was not yet an internationally recognised figure and respected theoretical physicist. A half century later, per popular demand, that thesis is now available to the public to read, no charge. Just in case your daily podcasting wasn't stimulating enough.

The University of Cambridge made the dissertation available Monday due to high demand for digital copies. In less than a day, the free version was downloaded almost 60,000 times by curious readers, according to a university spokesperson. Interest was so intense, in fact, the download site crashed, becoming "temporarily unavailable." As of 9 a.m, it is not functioning, despite university efforts to make PDF sizes small. But hey, what's a few extra days of wait time in Hawking's universe?

Hawking himself enthusiastically gave his consent to have the thesis made open to the public. He said in a statement:

By making my PhD thesis Open Access, I hope to inspire people around the world to look up at the stars and not down at their feet; to wonder about our place in the universe and to try and make sense of the cosmos. Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and enquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding. Each generation stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before them, just as I did as a young PhD student in Cambridge, inspired by the work of Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein. It's wonderful to hear how many people have already shown an interest in downloading my thesis – hopefully they won't be disappointed now that they finally have access to it!

It's no A Brief History of Time, but it's still an incredible look at the early work of one of the smartest people alive today—who, at the age of 75, remains as witty as ever.

From: Esquire US