Hawking's favourite subject of study is cosmology: the science of the universe as a whole. Hawking's goal, as he likes to put it, is to understand `why the universe is the way it is’.

In this lecture, Hertog describes the evolution in Hawking's thinking about our universe, and the place of mankind in the grand scheme of things. He explains how Hawking's ideas have revolutionised our understanding of how our universe began, and sketches the world view that arises from this.