Colonies on Mars will flourish and we will eventually conquer the universe, says Stephen Hawking

By Tamara Cohen

Last updated at 1:53 AM on 7th January 2012

Professor Stephen Hawking has predicted that humans will colonise Mars – but not for at least a century.

The physicist, who has decoded some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, said it is ‘essential’ for man to spread across the galaxy in case Earth is destroyed.

He suggested that it was ‘almost certain’ that a disaster ‘such as nuclear war or global warming’ would obliterate the planet within a thousand years.

Confident: Professor Stephen Hawking has said that we will one day colonise Mars – and beyond

‘It is essential that we colonise space,’ he stressed.

‘I believe that we will eventually establish self-sustaining colonies on Mars and other bodies in the solar system, but not within the next 100 years.’

The Red Planet is considered to be the solar system’s most hospitable alternative to Earth. Although space agencies have made preparations for a manned mission to Mars, such an expedition is thought to be decades away.

A typical estimate of the length of a round trip is 450 days.

Adding that humanity’s extinction was ‘possible but not inevitable’, Professor Hawking said: ‘I am optimistic that progress in science and technology will eventually enable humans to spread beyond the solar system and into the far reaches of the universe.’

Professor Hawking also gave his views on the recent CERN claims that neutrinos can travel faster than the speed of light, saying that he didn’t believe the results of its experiments.

The possibility of multiple universes is something he does believe in, however, telling one listener: ‘Our best bet for a theory of everything is M-theory.

‘One prediction of M-theory is that there are many different universes, with different values for the physical constants.’

Answering questions from listeners of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on the eve of his 70th birthday, Professor Hawking claimed that finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would be ‘the biggest scientific discovery ever’.

However, he warned that it would be ‘very risky to attempt to communicate with an alien civilisation’, adding: ‘If aliens decided to visit us, then the outcome might be similar to when Europeans arrived in the Americas. That did not turn out well for the Native Americans.’

Red alert: Hawking believes that we will one day colonise our cosmic neighbour. Pictured is the Disney film Mission To Mars

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Professor Hawking spends most of his waking hours thinking about these cosmic subjects.

But when he was asked by New Scientist recently what preoccupied him he replied: ‘Women. They are a complete mystery.’

He even hinted at regrets in his personal life after being asked about his biggest mistake.

He said that thinking information was destroyed black holes was his biggest blunder – ‘or at least my biggest blunder in science.’

Professor Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at 21, conducted the interview as he communicates – using a voice machine that picks up the twitching of his cheek.

His conversation with the magazine came ahead of an international conference held in his honour that started yesterday at Cambridge University, where he used to be the Lucasian professor of mathematics.

It will conclude on Sunday with talks from some of the world’s most prominent physicists, including Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal, Saul Perlmutter, who won the Nobel prize for physics in 2011, and Kip Thorne from the California Institute of Technology.

Professor Hawking, who has made cameos in The Simpsons and Star Trek, was not expected to live for many years after being diagnosed, but has has a stellar career.

Brilliant brain: The 69-year-old, pictured at his wedding to ex-wife Elaine, said a mistake about black holes was his biggest blunder ‘at least in science’

Colleagues have this week expressed their admiration for the talented cosmologist, who has contributed to theories of gravity and showed that black holes emit radiation and slowly disappear.

Professor Hawking married Jane Wilde in 1965, and she cared for him until 1991 when the couple separated, reportedly because of the pressures of fame and his increasing disability.

They had three children: Robert, Lucy – now a popular author, and Timothy.

The scientist then married his nurse, Elaine Mason (who was previously married to David Mason, the designer of the first version of Hawking’s talking computer), in 1995.

In October 2006, Hawking filed for divorce from his second wife.

In 2004, the scientist showed how a black hole’s information leaks back into our universe through an event horizon – a recantation of an earlier theory that lost him a bet made with fellow theorist John Preskill.

Professor Hawking also showed in the interview that he has not lost his passion for science, or his dreams of exciting future discoveries.

He said that if he was a young physicist starting out today, he would have a new idea that would open up an entirely new field.