Union Minister Harsh Vardhan was recently speaking at the 105th edition of the Indian Science Congress, where he claimed that late cosmologist Stephen Hawking had once said that Vedas are superior to Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity equation, E=mc2, reports The Hindu.
Harsh Vardhan, who is the current Union Minister of Science and Technology, said, “We recently lost a renowned scientist, cosmologist Stephen Hawking. He emphatically said on record that our Vedas might have a theory superior to that of Einstein’s E=mc2.”
Now, understandably, this was tough to digest and when asked about the source of this information the minister told the press, “You in the media should do some work and find out the source of this statement. When you have failed, then I shall disclose the source of my information.”
And the press did. And found no such record. (Shocking!)
If anything, Dr. Hawking has only denounced astrology in the past. During his address at the Albert Einstein memorial lecture in New Delhi in 2001, he had said, “The reason most scientists don’t believe in astrology is that it is not consistent with our theories which have been tested by experiment.”
This isn’t the first time a person of authority has made a completely wrong and absurd comment that has no connection with science.
I mean, we all remember the Rajasthan High Court Judge who said that a peacock does not have sex with peahen and the peahen gets pregnant by drinking the tears of the peacock.
Harsh Vardhan went one step ahead and made statement on behalf of someone who is not alive to validate the authenticity of it. However, he seems to have forgotten that technology has made it possible to document things that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
So much for glorification of the Vedas!