Former President Nelson Mandela, right, meets with British scientist Professor Stephen Hawking, left, in Johannesburg, Thursday, May 15, 2008. Hawking, who has devoted his career to finding the origins of the universe, is in the country to begin a search for Africa’s answer to Einstein. Some of the world’s leading high-tech entrepreneurs and scientists have backed a £75m plan to create Africa’s first postgraduate centers  for advanced math and physics, after the British government declined to provide funding. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell/pool)