Stephen Hawking Asked His Way Onto Star Trek, and Leonard Nimoy Passed It On

The Connection

"Descent, Part I," the Season 6 finale of The Next Generation, opens with Data's holodeck poker night. His guests are simulations of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, played by Hawking himself. StarTrek.com describes him as the only actor to play himself in the franchise.

According to StarTrek.com, Hawking was on the Paramount lot to film a promotion for the film of A Brief History of Time. On a tour of the sets he asked to be lifted out of his wheelchair and into the captain's chair, then told host Leonard Nimoy, "It is rather more comfortable and a lot more powerful than my wheelchair," and asked whether he could appear on the show.

Producer Michael Piller suggested the poker game. Brent Spiner, who played Data, later called it "perhaps my favorite moment in the entire experience of doing Star Trek." Hawking's best line was "Wrong again, Albert."

Later accounts from the producers differ a little on who set the meeting up, so we follow StarTrek.com's version and treat the details as reported.

Hawking's Trek connections go further. StarTrek.com's remembrance notes a shuttlecraft named after him, his visit to the Deep Space Nine set and Data's future post as Lucasian Professor at Cambridge in the series finale, the chair Hawking held himself.