RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. This week Cambridge University posted Stephen Hawking's Ph.D. thesis online. He's, of course, the famed theoretical physicist, and his 1966 paper is titled "Properties Of Expanding Universes." Very big ideas that drew so many people to that website Monday, the site crashed. Hawking wrote he hopes the paper inspires people to, quote, "look up at the stars and not down at their feet to wonder about our place in the universe and to try and make sense of the cosmos." It's MORNING EDITION.
Cambridge officials say by late Monday, Hawking's Ph.D thesis had been viewed more than 60,000 times. He adds, "Other popular theses might have 100 views per month."