Next Breakthrough in Cosmology will Come from the Dark Side: Stephen Hawking

World-famous cosmologist Stephen Hawking addressed a huge gathering in California at which he stated that the next breakthrough in cosmology will come from the dark side of the universe, reports UPI.com.

The event was held at the California Institute of Technology. He started his discussion by recalling the African creation myth. He then moved on to describing the historical theological debate about how the universe was created.

"The missing link in cosmology is the nature of dark matter and dark energy," Hawking was quoted as saying in LA Times. "Results from the European Space Agency's Planck space telescope shows that normal matter is only 5% of the energy density of the known universe; 27% is dark matter, 68% is dark energy."

Hawking is known for his studies on black holes, huge structures in the galaxies that are so strong that even light can pass through them. During the discussion he said that there has been a constant hunt for dark matter, but no concrete signs of it.

Dark matter is hypothesized to make up a large part of the universe. It cannot be seen directly with the help of a telescope, nor does it emit or absorb any light or other radiation.  Its existence is inferred because of the gravitational effects that are evident on the matter, radiation and universe. Dark energy is the hypothetical form of energy that accelerates the expansion of the universe.

At the same time, Hawking was disappointed with the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson, which is also referred to the God Particle from a book on the same. He feels there was no divine intervention needed to activate the Big Bang.

"What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions? Physics would be far more interesting if it wasn't found," Hawking said.

He encouraged the people to be curious, highlighting the imporatnce of space expaloration to sustain humanity.