God did not create the universe: Hawking

London: British physicist Stephen Hawking has said that the creation of the universe was a result of the inevitable laws of physics and it did not need God's help.

In his latest book titled "The Grand Design", Hawking writes: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

He rejects Isaac Newton's theory that the universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God. He wrote in the 1988 book: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God."

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going," the Daily Telegraph quoted Hawking as writing in his current book.

Hawking argues that the Big Bang which resulted in the creation of the Solar System and planets, including the earth, was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and God was nowhere in the picture. Earlier, a few scientists, including Hawking himself, had said that the sparkplug that kickstarted the universe through the Big Bang was probably provided by God.

Extracts of The Grand Design was published in Eureka magazine in The Times. And in that Hawking is quoted as saying: "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going."

Hawking had been putting forward the `no-God' theory for quite some time. In June, he had told a Channel 4 series that a "personal" God did not exist.

"The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."

However, there are unexplained phenomena in astrophysics. For example, researchers are yet to identify the `dark matter' that comprise over 75 per cent of the universe. Black holes, dark energy and God's particle -- phenomena that resulted either in the formation of the universe or in its death, have not been conclusively explained by science.

The Grand Design, co-written by American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, is published on September 9.