Abstract
A brief summary of Professor Hawing is lecture is given at the Center of Mathematical Science, Cambridge University, July 20, 2002, entitled “Gödel and the end of physics”. An overview of the triumphs of mathematical physics from Newton to t’Hoff is followed by the final statement that it may not be possible to formulate a theory of the universe in a finite number of statements, which is reminiscent of Gödel’s theorem.
Keywords: Newton’s “Principia Mathematica”, scientific determinism, A.H. Compton on man’s freedom, finiteness of the universe, Gödel’s theorems.