Epstein Files Release Hawking Photo from 2006 Conference

A photograph released as part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Epstein files shows the late British physicist Stephen Hawking relaxing on a deckchair with two women in bikinis while holding cocktails, during a 2006 science conference in the U.S. Virgin Islands hosted by financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The image, taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on St. Thomas, depicts Hawking smiling alongside the women, who a spokesperson for his family identified as his long-term British carers. Hawking, who required round-the-clock medical assistance due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), attended the event as one of 21 renowned scientists. The conference, titled "The Energy of Empty Space That Isn't Zero," focused on cosmology and was funded by Epstein. Hawking delivered a lecture on quantum cosmology during the gathering, which took place in March 2006, five months before Epstein's first charges related to soliciting prostitution in Florida.

Additional photos from the trip, also included in the files, show Hawking at a nighttime barbecue at the hotel and aboard a submarine modified by Epstein to accommodate his wheelchair, allowing him to explore the seabed near Little St. James, Epstein's...