Celebrity scientist Stephen Hawking has weighed into the controversy over whether the universe had a designer, telling CNN there was no place for one in the grand scheme of things.
The 64-year-old theoretical physicist, who recorded his interview for the Talk Asia programme when he was in Hong Kong on his way to a conference in Beijing last week, said science could 'account for everything'.
'There is no evidence for intelligent design. The laws of physics and chemistry, and Darwinian evolution, are sufficient,' he said.
Professor Hawking, who was mobbed by fans and press when he arrived at Chek Lap Kok to deliver a lecture at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on 'The Origin of the Universe', was answering questions put to him by Talk Asia host Hugh Riminton.
The programme aired yesterday morning and was repeated late last night.
The debate over 'intelligent design' has been particularly controversial in the US and Britain, where some educators have been trying to teach the theory that life is too complicated to have been the result of chance or natural selection.