One of Britain's most brilliant academics, Professor Stephen Hawking, is about to speak at the White House as part of President Bill Clinton's "Millennium Evenings".

Prof Hawking's lecture, entitled "Imagination and change: science in the next millennium", will be carried live on the Internet, on Saturday at 00:30 GMT (Friday, 19:30 Eastern Standard Time).

To link to the webcast and watch the lecture in RealVideo click here.
To watch the webcast on the Graham Technology Server (Java Application) click here.

The Cambridge-based scientist, whose book "A Brief History of Time" became a bestseller, will talk on the question of scientific progress. Prof Hawking will attempt to look into the future and predict major developments in the 21st century.

The VIP audience will include President Bill Clinton and the First Lady, Hillary, as well as the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Sir Alec Broers and 180 distinguished scientists and civic leaders.

Questioning our vision of the future

Prof Hawking, a cosmologist of worldwide repute, says: "Most visions of the future show a society with very advanced science and technology but in an unchanging state.

"I question this picture. I think it is more likely that biological and electronic complexity will increase at an ever more rapid rate."

The evening will be truly interactive with people all over the world being able to put questions to Prof Hawking via the White House's Internet site.

Prof Hawking's speech takes place in the East Room of the White House

Prof Hawking was diagnosed as having motor neurone disease at the age of 21. In 1974, his condition became acute. He is now wheelchair bound and unable to feed himself or get in and out of bed alone.

He has not been able to speak since a tracheostomy operation in 1985 and communicates by means of a computerised voicebox.

Leading authority on cosmology

But Stephen Hawking has refused to give in to the condition. He continued his research, and in 1974, the year his illness became acute, he discovered that black holes emit radiation.

Today, he is regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on cosmology.

Prof Hawking, who has a wife and three children, has 12 honorary degrees and was awarded the CBE in 1982.

He is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Prof Hawkin's lecture is the second of the White House's Millennium Evenings.

In February, Harvard historian Professor Bernard Bailyn spoke about the core American values which should be preserved in the United States in the next millennium.

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