Stephen Hawking to launch first segment of Discovery series

World's most famous scientist to tackle the question of creation on first episode of 'Curiosity.'

Mon, Aug 01 2011 at 1:07 PM

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TV Shows, Science

Photo: Discovery Channel

This Sunday (Aug. 7) at 8 p.m. ET/PT, the Discovery Channel will premiere "Curiosity," a weekly series dedicated to exploring what research says about life's biggest questions.

To launch the show, producers decided to tackle one of humanity's greatest puzzles: "Is there a Creator?" Hosting the segment will be famed theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, whose views on the existence of a higher being have stirred the pot of controversy time and again. "I think Science can explain the Universe without the need for God," he wrote in an interview with USA Today.

Hawking, who suffers from a form of Lou Gehrig's disease, published a book last year called "The Grand Design," which lays out his reasons for how the universe could create itself from nothing. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he wrote.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going," he added.

A press release by Discovery promises "blending cutting-edge CGI with unparalleled scholarship" saying that Hawking's narration will cover "the ancient discoveries of Aristarchus and Galileo to the scientific breakthroughs of Einstein in arguing that the simple properties of our universe far outweigh the possibility of the invisible hand of God."

Future episodes of "Curiosity" will feature new hosts, including horror legend Eli Roth testing the nature of evil, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal heating things up with why sex is fun, "Mythbuster" Adam Savage testing if we can really live forever, and many more.

Check out a trailer for the series below.

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