David, please don't take L's words personally! We do have a huge respect to British science and British scientists.
In Russian, the phrase "британские ученые" or "British scientists" is a colloquialism that is used humorously when a cited source of information looks "scientific" but is not credible. That is why learning a foreign language is such a challenging task. There are not only grammar, vocabulary, spelling, etc., but also cultural references. And not being familiar with them may lead to misunderstanding.
I personally a fan of Steven Hawking's genius.