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Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest scientists of the century. He was a very unique person. He proposed and proved many theories. He explained the theory of the black hole. He wrote a book called ‘The Brief History of Time’ in which he explained about the black hole. He also described the concepts of relativity and big-bang theory in this book. 

Stephen Hawking is an inspiration to all of us. He suffered from a fatal motor neuron disease that affected his spinal cord. He was diagnosed with this disease in his early 20’s and doctors predicted that he was not likely to live more than 5years. His body was paralyzed and he moved about in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Though he could not sit up straight, yet he kept working on his theories of Physics and amazed the medical experts by surviving for 55 more years. 

Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford on January 8, 1942. He was born in very adverse circumstances. His parents were not well off and he was born during the Second World War. It was believed that Germany would attack Britain at any time. At that time, Oxford was considered a safe place, so Stephen Hawking’s parents moved to Oxford. His father's name was Frank and his mother's name was Isobel Hawkins. Isobel worked as a secretary in the Medical Research Institute, and Frank was a Medical Researcher. In 1950, when Hawkins's father became the Head of the Division of Parasitology at the National Institute of Medical Research, the family moved to St. Albans.

In the early days of the academy, Stephen Hawking was a good student. He loved board games. According to his friends, Hawkins, along with the rest of his friends, had created a game that only they used to play among themselves. Together with his friends, he had made a computer putting together the recycled parts so that he could use it to solve complex mathematical equations. When Stephen Hawking joined Oxford University, he was 17 years old. He wanted to study Math there but there was no specialized degree in Math, so he turned to Physics, and later he turned towards Cosmology. After graduating in natural science in 1962, he went to Cambridge University to pursue a PhD in cosmology. In 1968, he was made a member of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy which gave a new direction to his research. That is when he started research on the black hole. He was then inducted into the Royal Society in 1974, a World Wide Fellowship of Scientists. In 1979, he became an Education Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, which is regarded as the most famous academic chair in the world.

Fight with His Disease

Stephen Hawking, at the age of 21, was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease (MND) (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)) disease. It is a dangerous neurological disease, due to which the nerve cells that control the movement of the muscles of the body gradually stop working, due to which the body gets paralyzed. When he was in Oxford, he felt many times that he was not well, sometimes he used to fall suddenly while walking, or used to stop completely while speaking. He became very clumsy. However, he continued to ignore all these things before 1963 and did not tell anyone about it. 

When his father saw his condition in 1963, he took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)). Doctors said that Stephen Hawking would only be able to stay alive for the next few years. His illness became a big reason for him to carry out his studies and he became a great scientist. Hawking himself said that until he was not diagnosed with the disease, his life was very boring. However, after diagnosis, when he came to know that he would be able to live for only a few years, he had put all his attention in his work and research so that he could fully utilize his remaining life. His illness captured him slowly, and as result, he was no longer able to walk due to which he had to move about in a wheelchair. He lost his voice completely in the year 1985. At this time, his condition was so bad that he was kept in 24 hours medical surveillance, and California’s computer programmers came to help him. They developed software that works based on eye movement.

Contribution Towards Science

In his research, he found that if this universe started with the Big Bang, then it would end with the Big Bang. He also explained Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Using the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Theory together, he gave us the concept of Hawking Radiation in which we came to know that Black Holes do not always exist, they leave the Hawking Radiation continuously. Hawking also explained the concept of Penrose– Hawking theorems, Blackhole information paradox, Micro black hole, Primordial black hole, Chronology protection conjecture, Soft hair (No hair theorem), Bekenstein–Hawking formula, Hawking energy, Hawking-Page phase transition.

Conclusion:

Stephen Hawking died on 14 March 2018 at his home. A man whose body didn’t support him achieved all so much that he became an inspiration for the next generations. Stephen Hawking used to give lectures even when he was not well. Motivate people to do a PhD. Stephen Hawking always used to say the same thing, no matter how difficult life may be, you can always do something, you can be successful if you work hard. An inspirational message for everyone.

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6. Stephen Hawking Suffering from Which Disease? How Did it Affect His Body?

Stephen Hawking suffered from motor neuron disease (MND) (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)). It’s a dangerous disease which paralyzed his entire body. Due to this, he could neither walk nor speak. Hawkins himself said that until he had not been diagnosed with that disease, his life was very boring. After he got to know that he can only live for 2 years in a proper way he concentrated on his researchers and lived his life to the fullest. His illness became a big reason for him to become a great scientist.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was a scientist known for his work with black holes and relativity, and the author of popular science books like 'A Brief History of Time.'

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(1942-2018)

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Stephen Hawking was a British scientist, professor and author who performed groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and whose books helped to make science accessible to everyone.

At age 21, while studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge , he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life story was depicted in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything .

Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England. His birthday was also the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo — long a source of pride for the noted physicist.

The eldest of Frank and Isobel Hawking's four children, Hawking was born into a family of thinkers.

His Scottish mother earned her way into Oxford University in the 1930s — a time when few women were able to go to college. His father, another Oxford graduate, was a respected medical researcher with a specialty in tropical diseases.

Hawking's birth came at an inopportune time for his parents, who didn't have much money. The political climate was also tense, as England was dealing with World War II and the onslaught of German bombs in London, where the couple was living as Frank Hawking undertook research in medicine.

In an effort to seek a safer place, Isobel returned to Oxford to have the couple's first child. The Hawkings would go on to have two other children, Mary and Philippa. And their second son, Edward, was adopted in 1956.

The Hawkings, as one close family friend described them, were an "eccentric" bunch. Dinner was often eaten in silence, each of the Hawkings intently reading a book. The family car was an old London taxi, and their home in St. Albans was a three-story fixer-upper that never quite got fixed. The Hawkings also housed bees in the basement and produced fireworks in the greenhouse.

In 1950, Hawking's father took work to manage the Division of Parasitology at the National Institute of Medical Research, and spent the winter months in Africa doing research. He wanted his eldest child to go into medicine, but at an early age, Hawking showed a passion for science and the sky.

That was evident to his mother, who, along with her children, often stretched out in the backyard on summer evenings to stare up at the stars. "Stephen always had a strong sense of wonder," she remembered. "And I could see that the stars would draw him."

Hawking was also frequently on the go. With his sister Mary, Hawking, who loved to climb, devised different entry routes into the family home. He loved to dance and also took an interest in rowing, becoming a team coxswain in college.

Early in his academic life, Hawking, while recognized as bright, was not an exceptional student. During his first year at St. Albans School , he was third from the bottom of his class.

But Hawking focused on pursuits outside of school; he loved board games, and he and a few close friends created new games of their own. During his teens, Hawking, along with several friends, constructed a computer out of recycled parts for solving rudimentary mathematical equations.

Hawking entered University College at the University of Oxford at the age of 17. Although he expressed a desire to study mathematics, Oxford didn't offer a degree in that specialty, so Hawking gravitated toward physics and, more specifically, cosmology.

By his own account, Hawking didn't put much time into his studies. He would later calculate that he averaged about an hour a day focusing on school. And yet he didn't really have to do much more than that. In 1962, he graduated with honors in natural science and went on to attend Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge for a Ph.D. in cosmology.

In 1968, Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. The next few years were a fruitful time for Hawking and his research. In 1973, he published his first, highly-technical book, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time , with G.F.R. Ellis.

In 1979, Hawking found himself back at the University of Cambridge, where he was named to one of teaching's most renowned posts, dating back to 1663: the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

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At a New Year's party in 1963, Hawking met a young languages undergraduate named Jane Wilde. They were married in 1965. The couple gave birth to a son, Robert, in 1967, and a daughter, Lucy, in 1970. A third child, Timothy, arrived in 1979.

In 1990, Hawking left his wife Jane for one of his nurses, Elaine Mason. The two were married in 1995. The marriage put a strain on Hawking's relationship with his own children, who claimed Elaine closed off their father from them.

In 2003, nurses looking after Hawking reported their suspicions to police that Elaine was physically abusing her husband. Hawking denied the allegations, and the police investigation was called off. In 2006, Hawking and Elaine filed for divorce.

In the following years, the physicist reportedly grew closer to his family. He reconciled with Jane, who had remarried. And he published five science-themed novels for children with his daughter, Lucy.

Over the years, Hawking wrote or co-wrote a total of 15 books. A few of the most noteworthy include:

'A Brief History of Time'

In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international prominence with the publication of A Brief History of Time . The short, informative book became an account of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview of space and time, the existence of God and the future.

The work was an instant success, spending more than four years atop the London Sunday Times' best-seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages.

Random House 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking

‘The Universe in a Nutshell’

A Brief History of Time also wasn't as easy to understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking followed up his book with The Universe in a Nutshell , which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology's big theories.

Bantam 'The Universe in a Nutshell' by Stephen Hawking

‘A Briefer History of Time’

In 2005, Hawking authored the even more accessible A Briefer History of Time , which further simplified the original work's core concepts and touched upon the newest developments in the field like string theory.

Together these three books, along with Hawking's own research and papers, articulated the physicist's personal search for science's Holy Grail: a single unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the small) to explain how the universe began.

This kind of ambitious thinking allowed Hawking, who claimed he could think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some big possibilities for humankind. He was convinced that time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed colonize other planets in the future.

Bantam 'A Briefer History of Time' by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

‘The Grand Design’

In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea that God could have created the universe in his book The Grand Design . Hawking previously argued that belief in a creator could be compatible with modern scientific theories.

Bantam 'The Grand Design' by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

In this work, however, he concluded that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of the laws of physics and nothing more. "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," Hawking said. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

The Grand Design was Hawking's first major publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, Hawking set out to challenge Isaac Newton 's belief that the universe had to have been designed by God, simply because it could not have been born from chaos. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going," Hawking said.

At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig 's disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves that controlled his muscles were shutting down. At the time, doctors gave him two and a half years to live.

Hawking first began to notice problems with his physical health while he was at Oxford — on occasion he would trip and fall, or slur his speech — but he didn't look into the problem until 1963, during his first year at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept these symptoms to himself.

But when his father took notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college student made his home at a medical clinic, where he underwent a series of tests.

"They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with X-rays, as they tilted the bed," he once said. "After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical case."

Eventually, however, doctors did diagnose Hawking with the early stages of ALS. It was devastating news for him and his family, but a few events prevented him from becoming completely despondent.

The first of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going through, Hawking later reflected, his situation seemed more tolerable.

Not long after he was released from the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going to be executed. He said this dream made him realize that there were still things to do with his life.

In a sense, Hawking's disease helped turn him into the noted scientist he became. Before the diagnosis, Hawking hadn't always focused on his studies. "Before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life," he said. "There had not seemed to be anything worth doing."

With the sudden realization that he might not even live long enough to earn his Ph.D., Hawking poured himself into his work and research.

As physical control over his body diminished (he'd be forced to use a wheelchair by 1969), the effects of his disease started to slow down. Over time, however, Hawking's ever-expanding career was accompanied by an ever-worsening physical state.

By the mid-1970s, the Hawking family had taken in one of Hawking's graduate students to help manage his care and work. He could still feed himself and get out of bed, but virtually everything else required assistance.

In addition, his speech had become increasingly slurred, so that only those who knew him well could understand him. In 1985 he lost his voice for good following a tracheotomy. The resulting situation required 24-hour nursing care for the acclaimed physicist.

It also put in peril Hawking's ability to do his work. The predicament caught the attention of a California computer programmer, who had developed a speaking program that could be directed by head or eye movement. The invention allowed Hawking to select words on a computer screen that were then passed through a speech synthesizer.

At the time of its introduction, Hawking, who still had use of his fingers, selected his words with a handheld clicker. Eventually, with virtually all control of his body gone, Hawking directed the program through a cheek muscle attached to a sensor.

Through the program, and the help of assistants, Hawking continued to write at a prolific rate. His work included numerous scientific papers, of course, but also information for the non-scientific community.

Hawking's health remained a constant concern—a worry that was heightened in 2009 when he failed to appear at a conference in Arizona because of a chest infection. In April, Hawking, who had already announced he was retiring after 30 years from the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, was rushed to the hospital for being what university officials described as "gravely ill," though he later made a full recovery.

In 1974, Hawking's research turned him into a celebrity within the scientific world when he showed that black holes aren't the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were.

In simple terms, Hawking demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. Another young cosmologist, Roger Penrose, had earlier discovered groundbreaking findings about the fate of stars and the creation of black holes, which tapped into Hawking's own fascination with how the universe began.

The pair then began working together to expand upon Penrose’s earlier work, setting Hawking on a career course marked by awards, notoriety and distinguished titles that reshaped the way the world thinks about black holes and the universe.

When Hawking’s radiation theory was born, the announcement sent shock waves of excitement through the scientific world. Hawking was named a fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 32, and later earned the prestigious Albert Einstein Award, among other honors. He also earned teaching stints at Caltech in Pasadena, California, where he served as visiting professor, and at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge.

In August 2015, Hawking appeared at a conference in Sweden to discuss new theories about black holes and the vexing "information paradox." Addressing the issue of what becomes of an object that enters a black hole, Hawking proposed that information about the physical state of the object is stored in 2D form within an outer boundary known as the "event horizon." Noting that black holes "are not the eternal prisons they were once thought," he left open the possibility that the information could be released into another universe.

In a March 2018 interview on Neil deGrasse Tyson 's Star Talk , Hawking addressed the topic of "what was around before the Big Bang" by stating there was nothing around. He said by applying a Euclidean approach to quantum gravity, which replaces real time with imaginary time, the history of the universe becomes like a four-dimensional curved surface, with no boundary.

He suggested picturing this reality by thinking of imaginary time and real time as beginning at the Earth's South Pole, a point of space-time where the normal laws of physics hold; as there is nothing "south" of the South Pole, there was also nothing before the Big Bang.

In 2007, at the age of 65, Hawking made an important step toward space travel. While visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he was given the opportunity to experience an environment without gravity.

Over the course of two hours over the Atlantic, Hawking, a passenger on a modified Boeing 727, was freed from his wheelchair to experience bursts of weightlessness. Pictures of the freely floating physicist splashed across newspapers around the globe.

"The zero-G part was wonderful, and the high-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!" he said.

Hawking was scheduled to fly to the edge of space as one of Sir Richard Branson 's pioneer space tourists. He said in a 2007 statement, "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming , nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space."

If there is such a thing as a rock-star scientist, Hawking embodied it. His forays into popular culture included guest appearances on The Simpsons , Star Trek: The Next Generation , a comedy spoof with comedian Jim Carrey on Late Night with Conan O'Brien , and even a recorded voice-over on the Pink Floyd song "Keep Talking."

In 1992, Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris released a documentary about Hawking's life, aptly titled A Brief History of Time . Other TV and movie appearances included:

'The Big Bang Theory'

In 2012, Hawking showed off his humorous side on American television, making a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory . Playing himself on this popular comedy about a group of young, geeky scientists, Hawking brings the theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper ( Jim Parsons ) back to Earth after finding an error in his work. Hawking earned kudos for this light-hearted effort.

'The Theory of Everything'

In November of 2014, a film about the life of Hawking and Jane Wilde was released. The Theory of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and encompasses his early life and school days, his courtship and marriage to Wilde, the progression of his crippling disease and his scientific triumphs.

In May 2016, Hawking hosted and narrated Genius , a six-part television series which enlists volunteers to tackle scientific questions that have been asked throughout history. In a statement regarding his series, Hawking said Genius is “a project that furthers my lifelong aim to bring science to the public. It’s a fun show that tries to find out if ordinary people are smart enough to think like the greatest minds who ever lived. Being an optimist, I think they will.”

In 2011, Hawkings had participated in a trial of a new headband-styled device called the iBrain. The device is designed to "read" the wearer's thoughts by picking up "waves of electrical brain signals," which are then interpreted by a special algorithm, according to an article in The New York Times . This device could be a revolutionary aid to people with ALS.

In 2014, Hawking, among other top scientists, spoke out about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence, or AI, calling for more research to be done on all of possible ramifications of AI. Their comments were inspired by the Johnny Depp film Transcendence , which features a clash between humanity and technology.

"Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history," the scientists wrote. "Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." The group warned of a time when this technology would be "outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand."

Hawking reiterated this stance while speaking at a technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in November 2017. Noting how AI could potentially make gains in wiping out poverty and disease, but could also lead to such theoretically destructive actions as the development of autonomous weapons, he said, "We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it."

In July 2015, Hawking held a news conference in London to announce the launch of a project called Breakthrough Listen. Funded by Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner, Breakthrough Listen was created to devote more resources to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

In October 2017, Cambridge University posted Hawking's 1965 doctoral thesis, "Properties of Expanding Universes," to its website. An overwhelming demand for access promptly crashed the university server, though the document still fielded a staggering 60,000 views before the end of its first day online.

On March 14, 2018, Hawking finally died of ALS, the disease that was supposed to have killed him more than 50 years earlier. A family spokesman confirmed that the iconic scientist died at his home in Cambridge, England.

The news touched many in his field and beyond. Fellow theoretical physicist and author Lawrence Krauss tweeted: "A star just went out in the cosmos. We have lost an amazing human being. Hawking fought and tamed the cosmos bravely for 76 years and taught us all something important about what it truly means to celebrate about being human."

Hawking's children followed with a statement: "We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world. He once said, 'It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.' We will miss him forever."

Later in the month, it was announced that Hawking's ashes would be interred at Westminster Abbey in London, alongside other scientific luminaries like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin .

On May 2, 2018, his final paper, titled "A smooth exit from eternal inflation?" was published in the Journal of High Energy Physics . Submitted 10 days before his death, the new report, co-authored by Belgian physicist Thomas Hertog, disputes the idea that the universe will continue to expand.

FULL NAME: Stephen William Hawking BORN: January 8, 1942 BIRTHPLACE: Oxford, United Kingdom DIED: March 14, 2018 ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn

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• My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
• Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen.
• Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
• Before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing.
• I believe that life on Earth is at an ever increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space.
• Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.
• It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.
• It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.
• If, like me, you have looked at the stars, and tried to make sense of what you see, you too have started to wonder what makes the universe exist.
• I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
• Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics.
• People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.
• We shouldn't be surprised that conditions in the universe are suitable for life, but this is not evidence that the universe was designed to allow for life. We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There's not much personal about the laws of physics.

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Stephen Hawking

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When was Stephen Hawking born?

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942.

When did Stephen Hawking die?

Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018.

Where did Stephen Hawking get his education?

Stephen Hawking received a bachelor’s degree in physics from University College, Oxford , in 1962 and a doctorate in physics from Trinity Hall, Cambridge , in 1966.

What was Stephen Hawking famous for?

Stephen Hawking worked on the physics of black holes . He proposed that black holes would emit subatomic particles until they eventually exploded. He also wrote best-selling books, the most famous of which was A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988).

Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942, Oxford , Oxfordshire, England—died March 14, 2018, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) was an English theoretical physicist whose theory of exploding black holes drew upon both relativity theory and quantum mechanics . He also worked with space-time singularities.

Hawking studied physics at University College, Oxford ( B.A. , 1962), and Trinity Hall, Cambridge ( Ph.D. , 1966). He was elected a research fellow at Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge. In the early 1960s Hawking contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , an incurable degenerative neuromuscular disease. He continued to work despite the disease’s progressively disabling effects.

Hawking worked primarily in the field of general relativity and particularly on the physics of black holes. In 1971 he suggested the formation, following the big bang , of numerous objects containing as much as one billion tons of mass but occupying only the space of a proton . These objects, called mini black holes , are unique in that their immense mass and gravity require that they be ruled by the laws of relativity, while their minute size requires that the laws of quantum mechanics apply to them also. In 1974 Hawking proposed that, in accordance with the predictions of quantum theory, black holes emit subatomic particles until they exhaust their energy and finally explode. Hawking’s work greatly spurred efforts to theoretically delineate the properties of black holes, objects about which it was previously thought that nothing could be known. His work was also important because it showed these properties’ relationship to the laws of classical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.

Hawking’s contributions to physics earned him many exceptional honours. In 1974 the Royal Society elected him one of its youngest fellows. He became professor of gravitational physics at Cambridge in 1977, and in 1979 he was appointed to Cambridge’s Lucasian professorship of mathematics, a post once held by Isaac Newton . Hawking was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982 and a Companion of Honour in 1989. He also received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in 2006 and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In 2008 he accepted a visiting research chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

His publications included The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (1973; coauthored with G.F.R. Ellis), Superspace and Supergravity (1981), The Very Early Universe (1983), and the best sellers A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988), The Universe in a Nutshell (2001), A Briefer History of Time (2005), and The Grand Design (2010; coauthored with Leonard Mlodinow).

Stephen Hawking: A Prominent Scientist Essay (Biography)

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Introduction

Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous scientists of the modern era. His achievements in physics placed him in the same row as people like Einstein. Hawking mostly advanced theories associated with the universe and its development. Moreover, he put effort into popularizing science among people, and his findings became discussed even among individuals who have no understanding of complex physics. This paper describes the life of Stephen Hawking and his most important works.

The path of a scientist was determined for Stephen Hawking from the start. Being born in 1942 in a family of a tropical medicine researcher, he was influenced by his father to take this path (Mellors). However, he found biology vague and unspecific, so mathematics and physics became his choice. Being a talented young man, Hawking did not take much time to study since he could easily understand most of the information intuitively. However, this fact did not prevent him from receiving first-class honors in physics upon graduating from Oxford University in 1962 (Mellors). His primary interest at that time was the theory of relativity.

However, it was a cosmology that drew Hawking’s attention later in his life. This was the field he concentrated on during his post-graduate studies at Cambridge University, which he finished in 1966 with a doctorate (Mellors). Discovering the origins of the universe became the goal of his life, and eventually led him to develop some of the most outstanding theories in modern science. For example, Hawking introduced the concept of singularity as one of his earliest works (Mellors). He claimed that it is a place that can be situated in a black hole, where time, space, and matter act differently.

Stephen Hawking also had an interesting personality and a challenging life. During his university studies, he was diagnosed with ALS – a disease that made him lose the ability to move and speak in several decades (Mellors). However, it did not decrease his passion for work and life. He managed to lead a successful career, publish several non-fiction books about space science, and even married twice and had children (Mellors). Stephen Hawking died in 2018 but left many people inspired about cosmology and universe discovery.

Stephen Hawking was one of the most prominent physics scientists, who introduced some of the most important theories that are currently used in space exploration. Despite having a progressing disease influencing his activities, he led an active lifestyle and managed to make many people interested in this field. Hawking’s findings have completely changed the knowledge about the universe, making humankind one step closer to discovering its origins.

Mellors, Julie, editor. Gale Biography Presents: Scientists and Inventors . Gale Cengage Learning, 2018.

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Bibliography

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New Times, New Thinking.

Stephen Hawking’s life is a triumph of intellect over adversity

Stephen Hawking received his "death sentence" more than 50 years ago. The Astronomer Royal pays tribute to him.

By Martin Rees

Soon after I enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge in 1964, I encountered a fellow student, two years ahead of me in his studies; he was unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty. This was Stephen Hawking. I learned that he had a degenerative disease – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – and might not live long enough even to finish his PhD degree. But, amazingly, he has lived on for 50 years longer. Mere survival would have been a medical marvel, but of course he hasn’t merely survived. He has become the most famous scientist in the world – acclaimed for his brilliant researches, for his bestselling books about space, time and the cosmos and, above all, for his astonishing triumph over adversity.

The Theory of Everything , the film currently in cinemas, portrays the human story behind this struggle. And it surpasses most biopics in representing the main characters so well that they themselves are happy with the portrayal.

Astronomers are used to large numbers. But few numbers could be as large as the odds I’d have given back in 1963, when Stephen received his “death sentence”, against ever celebrating this uniquely inspiring crescendo of achievement, sustained now for more than 50 years.

Stephen went to school in St Albans and then to university at Oxford. He was, by all accounts, a “laid-back” undergraduate, but his brilliance nonetheless earned him a first-class degree, and an “entry ticket” to a research career in Cambridge. Within a few years of the onset of his disease he was wheelchair-bound and his speech became an indistinct croak that only those who knew him could interpret. But in other respects fortune had favoured him. He married a college friend, Jane Wilde, who provided a supportive home life for him and their three children.

His scientific work went from strength to strength: he quickly came up with a succession of insights into the nature of black holes (then a very new idea) and how our universe began. In 1974 he was elected to the Royal Society, Britain’s main scientific academy, at the exceptionally early age of 32.

The Saturday Read

Morning call.

He was by then so frail that most of us suspected he could scale no further heights. But, for Stephen, this was still just the beginning. He worked in the same building as I did. I would often push his wheelchair into his office, and he would ask me to open an abstruse book on quantum theory – the science of atoms, not a subject that had hitherto much interested him. He would sit hunched motionless for hours; he couldn’t even turn the pages without help. I wondered what was going through his mind, and if his powers were failing. But within a year he came up with his best ever idea, encapsulated in an equation that he says he wants on his gravestone.

The great advances in science generally involve discovering a link between phenomena that seemed hitherto conceptually unconnected: for instance, Isaac Newton realised that the force making an apple fall was the same as the force that held the moon and planets in their orbits. Stephen’s “eureka moment” revealed a profound and unexpected link between gravity and quantum theory which predicted that black holes would not be completely black, but would radiate in a characteristic way. This radiation is significant only for black holes much less massive than stars – and none of these has been found. However, “Hawking radiation” became a hugely influential concept in mathematical physics; indeed, one of the main achievements of string theory has been to firm up and build on his idea. It is remarkable that it is still the focus of theoretical interest, a topic of debate and controversy even 40 years after discovery. He has not been awarded the Nobel Prize because his idea is not confirmed by experiment. But in 2012 he was one of the first winners of the Milner Prize, worth $3m, intended to recognise theoretical work.

Cambridge has been Stephen’s base throughout his career and he became a familiar figure in the city, navigating his wheelchair around the streets. By the end of the 1970s he had advanced to one of the most distinguished posts at the university – the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics, once held by Newton. Stephen held the chair with distinction for 30 years but reached the retiring age in 2009, and since then has held a special research professorship. He has continued to seek new links between the very large (the cosmos) and the very small (atoms and quantum theory) and to gain deeper insights into the very beginning of our universe, addressing such questions as: “Was our Big Bang the only one?” He always had an amazing ability to figure things out in his head but generally he worked with colleagues who would write a formula on a blackboard; he would stare at it, and say what should come next.

In 1987 Stephen contracted pneumonia. He had to undergo a tracheotomy, which removed even the limited powers of speech he then possessed. It had been more than ten years since he could write, or use a keyboard. Without speech, the only way he could communicate was by directing his eye towards one of the letters of the alphabet on a big board in front of him.

But he was saved by technology. He still had the use of one hand; and a computer, controlled by a single lever, allowed him to spell out sentences. These were then declaimed by a speech synthesiser with the androidal American accent that has since become his trademark. His lectures were, of course, pre-prepared, but conversation remained a struggle. Each word involved several presses of the lever, so a single sentence took several minutes. He has learned to economise with words. His comments are aphoristic or oracular, but often infused with wit. In recent years he has become too weak to control this machine effectively, even with facial muscles or eye movements, and his communication – to his immense frustration – has become still slower. Let’s hope that his new Intel predictive software speeds things up, though he will not modify his “trademark” voice.

At the time of his tracheotomy operation, he had a rough draft of a book that he hoped would describe his ideas to a wide readership and earn something for his two eldest children, Robert and Lucy, who were then of college age. On recovering from pneumonia, he resumed work with the help of an editor. When the US edition of A Brief History of Time appeared, the printers had made errors (one picture was upside down), and the publishers tried to recall the stock. To their amazement, all copies had already been sold. It was the first inkling that the book was destined to have huge success – four years on bestseller lists around the world.

Stephen became an international celebrity. His later ideas appear, beautifully illustrated, in other books such as The Universe in a Nutshell and The Grand Design . These were not bought by quite as many people as his first book, but they are more clearly written, and probably more people got to the end of them. He has featured in numerous television programmes; his lectures have filled the Royal Albert Hall in London, and similar venues in the United States and Japan. (In principle, machine translation could now give him an advantage over the rest of us by converting his speech into Japanese, Korean, or other languages.) He lectured at Bill Clinton’s White House; he was back there again more recently when President Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a very rare honour for any foreigner. He has featured in Star Trek and The Simpsons , as well as in numerous TV advertisements. Even before the present film, his life and work had featured in movies. In an excellent TV docudrama, he was played by Benedict Cumberbatch. (And in 2012 Cumberbatch spoke his words in a three-part documentary, The Grand Design , made for the Discovery Channel.)

The Theory of Everything conveys with sensitivity how the pressure of his celebrity, and the need for round-the-clock care by a team of nurses, strained his marriage to breaking point. Jane’s book on which the film is based chronicles the 25 years during which, with amazing dedication, she underpinned his family life and his career.

This is where the film ends. But it leaves us only halfway through Stephen’s adult life. After the split with Jane, he married Elaine Mason, who had been one of his nurses, and whose former husband had designed his speech synthesiser. However, this partnership broke up after a few years. He has been sustained, then and thereafter, by a team of helpers and personal assistants, as well as his family. His daughter, Lucy, has written books for children with her father listed as co-author.

His 60th-birthday celebrations in January 2002 were a memorable occasion for all of us. Hundreds of leading scientists came from all over the world to honour and celebrate Stephen’s discoveries, and to spend a week discussing the latest theories on space, time and the cosmos. But the celebrations weren’t just scientific – that wouldn’t have been Stephen’s style. There were parties and dinners each evening. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. A Marilyn Monroe lookalike cut a huge birthday cake; a troupe of cancan dancers performed; there was music and singing. And when the week’s events were all over, he celebrated with a trip in a hot-air balloon.

Stephen continued, even in his sixties, to write technical papers and to speak at premier international conferences – doubly remarkable in a subject such as maths, where even most healthy researchers peak at an early age. He reminded us that he was not another Einstein; nonetheless few, if any, have done more to deepen our knowledge of gravity, space and time.

He remains an inveterate traveller despite attempts to curb this as his respiration weakens. All his trips involve an entourage of assistants and nurses. His fame, and the allure of his public appearances, have given him the resources for nursing care, even private jets, and protected him against the “Does he take sugar?” type of indignity that the disabled often suffer.

Why has he become such a “cult figure”? The notion of an imprisoned mind roaming the cosmos plainly grabbed people’s imagination. If he had achieved equal distinction in (say) genetics, rather than cosmology, his triumph of intellect against adversity probably would not have had the same resonance with a worldwide public.

It was amazing enough that Stephen reached the age of 60; few of us then thought that he would survive to another milestone – his 70th birthday. But he did, and this was again marked by an international gathering of scientists, and also with some razzmatazz: Richard Branson, Daniel Craig and other celebrities attended. Yet plainly he was then weakening; he had to watch most of the events by video while in hospital on a respirator.

But once again he recovered, and was soon back at work. Within three months he was off on another transatlantic trip. This was not just to lecture: he was determined to visit an underground laboratory in Canada where landmark and delicate experiments had been done. He was undeterred by having to descend two miles down a mineshaft. On a later trip only a last-minute health setback prevented him from travelling onwards to the Galapagos. In April 2013, he gave lectures to huge audiences in California. And just four months ago he was the “star” attraction (along with Brian May) at Starmus, a “cosmos and music” festival in the Canary Islands.

Stephen is far from being the archetypal unworldly or nerdish scientist – his personality has remained remarkably unwarped by his frustrations and handicaps. As well as his inveterate scientific travels, he enjoys trips to the theatre or the opera. He has robust common sense, and forceful political opinions that he is ready to express. However, a downside of his celebrity is that his comments attract exaggerated attention even when he speaks about topics in which he has no special expertise – philosophy, for instance, or the dangers posed by aliens or intelligent machines.

Despite the pressures and difficulties, he is a determined campaigner for the disabled. He has also always been, at a personal level, sensitive to the misfortunes of others. He records that, in hospital soon after his illness was first diagnosed, he felt his depression lift when he compared his lot with that of a boy in the next bed who was dying of leukaemia. In later life, he went to great efforts to visit a terminally ill colleague. And he has been happy to align himself with other campaigns and causes. When he visited Israel, he insisted on going also to the West Bank. Newspapers in 2006 showed remarkable pictures of him in his wheelchair, surrounded by fascinated and curious crowds in Ramallah. And in 2013 he accepted the advice of Palestinian colleagues to decline an invitation to a major conference in Israel. But by the time the ensuing (and entirely predictable) controversy broke, he was in intensive care with a collapsed lung. Last month he hit headlines again with his claims that computers may become so powerful that it will be the end for humanity.

Even more astonishing are the photographs of him “floating” in the Nasa aircraft (the “Vomit Comet”) that allows passengers to experience weightlessness. He was manifestly overjoyed at escaping, albeit briefly, the clutches of the gravitational force he has studied for decades and that has so cruelly imprisoned his body. He says he would still like to be a “space tourist”. In London in the summer of 2012, he reached perhaps his largest ever audience when he played a star role in the opening ceremony for the Paralympics. He is probably, at least since the death of the actor Christopher Reeve, the best-known disabled person in the world – and, unlike Reeve, he achieved his fame while already disabled.

Tragedy struck Stephen Hawking when he was only 21. He was diagnosed with a deadly disease and his expectations dropped to zero. He has said that everything that has happened since then is a bonus. And what a triumph his life has been. His name will live in the annals of science; millions have had their cosmic horizons widened by his bestselling books; and even more, around the world, have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds – a manifestation of astonishing willpower and determination.

It is a great thing that some phases and facets of Stephen’s life have been so well portrayed in The Theory of Everything . Let’s hope that some time there will be another film that depicts his later life, and his scientific achievements.

This article is an updated and expanded version of a tribute to Stephen Hawking published in 2007

Martin Rees is a fellow of Trinity College and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge

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Stephen Hawking biography: Theories, books & quotes

A brief history of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

• Scientific achievements
• Filmography
• Quotes and controversial statements

Additional resources

Stephen Hawking is regarded as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history. 

His work on the origins and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes, revolutionized the field, while his best-selling books have appealed to readers who may not have Hawking's scientific background. Hawking died on March 14, 2018 , at the age of 76.

Stephen Hawking was seen by many as the world's smartest person, though he never revealed his IQ score. When asked about his IQ score by a New York Times reporter he replied, "I have no idea, people who boast about their IQ are losers," according to the news site The Atlantic .  

Related: 4 bizarre Stephen Hawking theories that turned out to be right (and 6 we're not sure about)

In this brief biography, we look at Hawking's education and career — ranging from his discoveries to the popular books he's written — and the disease that robbed him of mobility and speech.   

The early life of Stephen Hawking

British cosmologist Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England on Jan. 8, 1942  — 300 years to the day after the death of the astronomer Galileo Galilei . He attended University College, Oxford, where he studied physics, despite his father's urging to focus on medicine. Hawking went on to Cambridge to research cosmology , the study of the universe as a whole. 

In early 1963, just shy of his 21st birthday, Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) . Doctors told Hawkings that he would likely not survive more than two years with the disease. Completing his doctorate did not appear likely, but Hawking defied the odds. He also obtained his PhD in 1966 for his thesis entitled " Properties of expanding universes ". In that same year, Hawking also won the prestigious Adams Prize for his essay entitled "Singularities and the Geometry of Space-Time".

From then Hawking went on to forge new roads into the understanding of the universe in the decades since. 

As the disease spread, Hawking became less mobile and began using a wheelchair. Talking grew more challenging and, in 1985, an emergency tracheotomy caused his total loss of speech. A speech-generating device constructed at Cambridge, combined with a software program, served as his electronic voice, allowing Hawking to select his words by moving the muscles in his cheek.

Just before his diagnosis, Hawking met Jane Wilde, and the two were married in 1965. The couple had three children before separating in 1990. Hawking remarried in 1995 to Elaine Mason but divorced in 2006.

Stephen Hawking's greatest scientific achievements

Throughout his career, Hawking proposed several theories regarding astronomical anomalies, posed curious questions about the cosmos and enlightened the world about the origin of everything. Here are just some of the many milestones Hawking made in the name of science. 

In 1970, Hawkings and fellow physicist and Oxford classmate, Roger Penrose, published a joint paper entitled " The singularities of gravitational collapse and cosmology ". In this paper, Hawking and Penrose proposed a new theory of spacetime singularities — a breakdown in the fabric of the universe found in one of Hawking's later discoveries, the black hole. This early work not only challenged concepts in physics but also supported the concept of the Big Bang as the birth of the universe, as outlined in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity in the 1940s. 

Over the course of his career, Hawking studied the basic laws governing the universe. In 1974, Hawking published another paper called " Black hole explosions? ", in which he outlined a theorem that united Einstein's theory of general relativity, with quantum theory — which explains the behavior of matter and energy on an atomic level. In this new paper, Hawking hypothesized that matter not only fell into the gravitational pull of black holes but that photons radiated from them — which has now been confirmed in laboratory experiments by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel — aptly named "Hawking radiation". 

In 1974, Hawking was inducted into the Royal Society, a worldwide fellowship of scientists. Five years later, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, the most famous academic chair in the world (the second holder was Sir Isaac Newton , also a member of the Royal Society).

During the 1980s, Hawking turned his attention to the Big Bang and the uncertainties about the beginning of the universe. "Events before the Big Bang are simply not defined, because there’s no way one could measure what happened at them. Since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, one may as well cut them out of the theory and say that time began at the Big Bang," he said during his lecture called The Beginning of Time . In 1983, Hawking, along with scientists James Harlte, published a paper outlining their " no-boundary proposal " for the universe. In their paper, Hawking and Hartle describe the shape of the universe as reminiscent of a shuttlecock — with the Big Bang at the narrowest point and the expanding universe emerging from it.

Related: Can we time travel? A theoretical physicist provides some answers

Books by Stephen Hawking

In the last three decades of Hawking's life, he not only continued to publish academic literature, but he also published several popular science books to share his theories of the history of the universe with the layperson. His most popular book " A Brief History of Time " (10th-anniversary edition: Bantam, 1998) was first published in 1988 and became an international bestseller. It has sold almost 10 million copies and has been translated into 40 different languages.

Hawking went on to write other nonfiction books aimed at non-scientists. These include " A Briefer History of Time ," " The Universe in a Nutshell ," " The Grand Design " and " On the Shoulders of Giants ." 

Along with his many successful books about the inner workings of the universe, Hawking also began a series of science fiction books called " George and the Big Bang ", with his daughter Lucy Hawking in 2011. Aimed at middle school children, the series follows George's adventures as he travels through space. 

Stephen Hawking's filmography

Hawking has made several television appearances, including a playing hologram of himself on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and a cameo on the television show "Big Bang Theory." He has also voiced himself in several episodes of the animated series "Futurama" and "The Simpson". In 1997, PBS also presented an educational miniseries titled " Stephen Hawking's Universe ," which probes the theories of the cosmologist. 

 In 2014, a movie based on Hawking's life was released. Called "The Theory of Everything," the film drew praise from Hawking , who said it made him reflect on his own life. "Although I'm severely disabled, I have been successful in my scientific work," Hawking wrote on Facebook in November 2014. "I travel widely and have been to Antarctica and Easter Island, down in a submarine and up on a zero-gravity flight. One day, I hope to go into space." 

Related: The Theory of Everything: Searching for the universal rules of physics

Stephen Hawking's quotes and controversial statements

Hawking's quotes range from notable to poetic to controversial. Among them: 

• "Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? "— A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes , 1988 
• "All of my life, I have been fascinated by the big questions that face us, and have tried to find scientific answers to them. If, like me, you have looked at the stars, and tried to make sense of what you see, you too have started to wonder what makes the universe exist."— Stephen Hawking's Universe , 1997.  
• "Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in." — The Guardian, 2011 .
• "We should seek the greatest value of our action." — The Guardian, 2011. 
• "The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired. "— A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes , 1988.   
• "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."  
• "It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value." — Life in the Universe , 1996.  
• "One cannot really argue with a mathematical theorem." — A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes , 1988.  
• "It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining." — The Guardian, 2005 . 
• "I relish the rare opportunity I've been given to live the life of the mind. But I know I need my body and that it will not last forever." — Stem Cell Universe , 2014. 

A list of Hawking quotes would be incomplete without mentioning some of his more controversial statements.

He frequently said that humans must leave Earth if we wished to survive. 

• "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million...Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space," he said during an interview with video site Big Think , 2010. 
• "[W]e must … continue to go into space for the future of humanity…I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet,"  Hawking said during a lecture at the Oxford Union debating society , 2016. 
• "We are running out of space and the only places to go to are other worlds. It is time to explore other solar systems. Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth," he said during a speech at the Starmus Festival in Norway, 2017. 

He also said time travel should be possible, and that we should explore space for the romance of it. 

"Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out. I was one of the first to write about the conditions under which this would be possible. I showed it would require matter with negative energy density, which may not be available. Other scientists took courage from my paper and wrote further papers on the subject," he told the new site Parade in 2010. "Science is not only a disciple of reason, but, also, one of romance and passion," he adds.

The theoretical physicist was also concerned that robots could not only have an impact on the economy but also mean doom for humanity.

"The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining," he wrote in a 2016 column in The Guardian .

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," he told the BBC in 2014. Hawking added, however, that AI developed to date has been helpful. It's more the self-replication potential that worries him. "It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."

"The genie is out of the bottle. I fear that AI may replace humans altogether," Hawking told WIRED in November 2017.

An avowed atheist, Hawking also occasionally waded into the topic of religion.

• "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going." — The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. 
• "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail…There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he said during a 2011 interview with The Guardian .
• "Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist," Hawking said in a 2014 interview with the news site El Mundo .  

For more information about Stephen Hawking, his theories and read through the many transcriptions of his influential lectures, check out his official website . You can also watch Hawking probe the origins of the cosmos in his extraordinary TED talk .  

Bibliography

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Beck, J. (2017, October 11). “people who boast about their IQ are losers.” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/trump-tillerson-iq-brag-boast-psychology-study/542544/

The beginning of time . Stephen Hawking. (n.d.-c). https://www.hawking.org.uk/in-words/lectures/the-beginning-of-time

Guardian News and Media. (2005, September 27). Interview: Stephen Hawking . The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/27/scienceandnature.highereducationprofile

Guardian News and Media. (2011a, May 15). Stephen Hawking: “there is no heaven; it’s a Fairy story.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven

Guardian News and Media. (2011b, May 15). Stephen Hawking: “there is no heaven; it’s a Fairy story.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven

Guardian News and Media. (2016, December 1). This is the most dangerous time for our planet | Stephen Hawking . The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/01/stephen-hawking-dangerous-time-planet-inequality

Hartle, J. B., & Hawking, S. W. (1983, December 15). Wave function of the universe . Physical Review D. https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.28.2960

Hawking radiation and the sonic black hole - technion - israel institute of technology . Technion. (2021, February 17). https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2021/02/hawking-radiation-and-the-sonic-black-hole/

Hawking, S. W. (1974, March 1). Black Hole Explosions? . Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/248030a0

Life in the universe . Stephen Hawking. (n.d.-a). https://www.hawking.org.uk/in-words/lectures/life-in-the-universe

Medeiros, J. (2017, November 28). Stephen Hawking: “I fear ai may replace humans altogether.” WIRED UK. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stephen-hawking-interview-alien-life-climate-change-donald-trump

Oxford Union Speech . Stephen Hawking. (n.d.-b). https://www.hawking.org.uk/in-words/speeches/speech-5

Pablo Jáuregui, Enviado especial Guía de Isora (Tenerife), & Chocolatillo. (2018, March 14). Stephen Hawking: “no hay ningún dios. soy ateo.” ELMUNDO. https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia/2014/09/21/541dbc12ca474104078b4577.html

The singularities of gravitational collapse and cosmology . Royal Society Publishing. (1970, January 27). https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.1970.0021

Hawking, S. W. (1966). Properties of expanding universes. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.11283

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• Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking

Stephen Hawking is one of the most precious gems in the world of physics, who was ahead of his time. His disability of having unsteady feet and being diagnosed with degenerative disease couldn’t stop Stephen Hawking from becoming the world’s most famous and acclaimed scientist. Even his survival would have been a marvel to this world, but he lived amazingly till 76.

Table of Contents

• Who was Stephen Hawking?
• Stephen Hawking’s Education Awards & Achievements
• The Black Hole Theory

The Big Bang

Hawking radiation, the multiverse, who was stephen william hawking.

Stephen William Hawking was a British physicist, born on 8th January 1942. He is considered the most brilliant theoretical physicist of all time. He revolutionized the field of physics through his work on the origin of the universe and the black hole explosion theory. From the big bang to black holes, all his best-selling books appealed to physics lovers across the globe.

The English theoretical physicist whose theory of the explosion of black holes illustrated upon the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He also worked in the field of space-time singularities.

Stephen Hawking’s Education Awards & Achievements

Stephen William Hawking studied physics in 1962 at the University College, Cambridge and in 1966 in the Trinity Hall, Cambridge,. His contributions in physics are unparalleled, which often left other scientists scratching their heads.

Professor Stephen William Hawking holds 13 honorary degrees. He was bestowed CBE (1982), Fellow of Honor (1989) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009).

He has received the Fundamental Physics Award (2013), the Copley Medal (2006) and the Wolf Foundation Award (1988). Along with a bunch of other honours awards and medals, he won the Adams Prize in 1966 for his essay Singularities and the Space-time Geometry.

He was also a member of the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

The physics of black hole.

Stephen William Hawking’s name has always been associated with the black hole. He put forward his stroke of genius combining Einstein’s Theory of Relativity , which has already aroused curiosity and has been under debate for decades, and the theory of quantum mechanics. In the early 1970s, Hawkins turned his attention to both of these theories, and later on, Stephen William Hawking’s most famous thesis on black holes was proven right.

Hawking’s doctoral thesis was written at a critical time when there was an argument between two cosmological theories: the Big Bang theory and the Steady State theory. Both these theories were considered to be opposing each other at that time. However, both theories accepted that the universe is expanding, but the first one explains that the universe is expanding from an ultra-compact, super-dense state at a finite time in the past, and the second one assumes that the universe has been intensifying forever.

Hawking showed in his thesis that the Steady State theory is mathematically self-contradictory. He reasoned instead that the universe began as a dense point called a singularity which was infinitely small. His description has been accepted worldwide today.

The photons or the particles of light can’t escape from the black holes because of their intense and strong gravity. But Stephen Hawking argued on it, explaining the truth, which was more complex than the assumed fact. He applied quantum theory, especially the idea of “virtual photons”; he realized that some of these photons could appear to be radiated from the black hole . At a laboratory experiment in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, it has recently been confirmed that this theory is correct and is named Hawking Radiation.

Instead of a real black hole, the researchers used a “sonic black hole” from which sound waves cannot outflow.

Stephen Hawking was also involved in the most exciting topics toward the conclusion of his life was the multiverse theory. He proposed the idea that our universe, with its start in the Big Bang, is just one of an infinite number of contemporaneous bubble universes. In his very last paper in 2018, he proposed a novel mathematical framework and tried to seek out the universe in his own words. But as with any assumption concerning parallel universes, we do not have any idea if his ideas are right now. Maybe the scientists will be able to test his belief in the coming times.

Not only an amazing physicist but Stephen Hawking was an amazing and inspiring personality too, he left behind his great research theories and thoughts as his legacy to us, which is truly a gift in physics.

Stay tuned to BYJU’S for more such interesting articles. Also, register to “BYJU’S – The Learning App” for loads of interactive, engaging Physics-related videos and unlimited academic assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What stephen hawking is famous for.

Apart from one of the most brilliant British physicists Stephen Hawking is famous for his theories on the Big Bang and the black hole concept.

What is Stephen Hawking’s IQ

Stephen Hawking has tried to keep his IQ a secret but it was estimated that his IQ is around 160.

When did Stephen Hawking write his first book?

In 1973 Stephen Hawking wrote his first book which is named as “The Large Scale Structure of Space-TIme”

How many types of Black holes are there?

There are four types of black holes:

• Intermediate
• Supermassive

What is Big Bang Theory?

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model explaining the existence of the observable universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution.

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The Hawking of Stephen Hawking: Celebrity, Cosmology, Disability

Jonathan smith (draft. please do not quote without permission.) i have sold more books on physics than madonna has on sex. stephen hawking, the illustrated a brief history of time, during a debate in tom stoppard's arcadia (1993) between a byron scholar and a mathematician over the cultural value of literary genius versus that of scientific knowledge, the byronist lauches into a tirade against newtonian and post-newtonian cosmology: "there's no rush for isaac newton. we were quite happy with aristotle's cosmos. personally, i preferred it. fifty-five crystal spheres geared to god's crankshaft is my idea of a satisfying universe. i can't think of anything more trivial than the speed of light. quarks, quasars--big bangs, black holes--who gives a shit how did you people con us out of all that status all that money and why are you so pleased with yourselves . . . i'd push the lot of you over a cliff myself. except the one in the wheelchair, i think i'd lose the sympathy vote before people had time to think it through." 1 "the one in the wheelchair" is of course stephen hawking, the british theoretical physicist stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als, better known in the u.s. as lou gehrig's disease) and author of the best-selling a brief history of time (1988). that hawking can be identified without being named is a tribute to his extraordinary cultural status and iconic power. but this passage also hints at the largely unexamined nature of that status and power and, perhaps more ominously, at the danger of embarking on such a critique. hawking, arguably the most visible and popular scientist during the last decade, has remained aloof from the "science wars" that have raged in the academy and the wider culture over the same period. yet that silence is itself telling, a reflection of a desire for unambiguous scientific heroes exemplifying moral and intellectual authority, fearlessly providing us with truth, however unpleasant, about ourselves and the universe. the subject of alan sokal's social text hoax, it is worth noting, was quantum gravity, the marriage of quantum mechanics and general relativity with which hawking has been so closely associated. 2 the purpose of this essay, however, is not to drag hawking into the science wars but to map the development of his iconic status and to sketch its cultural resonances. i present a brief history of time in the context of contemporary studies of celebrity and celebrity-marketing, arguing that hawking's book participates in a carefully crafted plan to sell his life and his science, a plan in which the story of modern cosmology is modified in subtle but crucial ways to make stephen hawking its star. but the storylines of stephen hawking, disabled physicist, and stephen hawking, the greatest physicist since einstein, often contradict, and hawking's efforts to suppress those contradictions merely enmesh him further in his own and his culture's ambivalence toward disability and technology in postmodernity. although cultural theorists have prepared us to see the disabled body and the cyborg body as repositories of cultural anxieties as well as sites for their display, stephen hawking provides the opportunity to observe these anxieties from the position of a disabled/cyborg subject deeply embedded in the traditions of enlightenment science and cosmology. in its extended visual treatment of hawking, errol morris's film version of a brief history of time (1991), while in many respects implicated in the construction and maintenance of hawking's celebrity, is also, by virtue of morris's partial independence from hawking's control, the ideal venue in which to see the submerged tensions and contradictions of hawking's storylines brought to the surface. signs of hawking's status as a pop culture icon are everywhere. he played himself in a guest appearance on the 1992-93 season finale of star trek: the next generation , while in addams family values (1993) the nerdy friend of wednesday addams clutched a copy of a brief history of time at summer camp. but hawking is also hip. people magazine named him one of 1988's twenty-five most intriguing people. 3 he was mentioned as an interview subject of sitcom tv journalist murphy brown in 1995 and provided jerry seinfeld with a punchline in 1997. 4 a chicago cabaret bar formed a stephen hawking fan club, printed t-shirts, and was inundated with requests for shirts from around the world. profiled in people , one of the bar's owners explained, "if a club's good enough for spuds mackenzie [then the canine star of budweiser's marketing campaign], it's good enough for hawking." 5 hawking subsequently became a celebrity pitchman himself, appearing in advertisements for british telecommunications and later for u.s. robotics, the modem manufacturer. 6 michael white and john gribbin's biography of hawking aptly compares his celebrity status--tarmac vip receptions, sold-out public lectures, and groupies--to that of a rock star; hawking subsequently supplied a voice track for the 1994 pink floyd single, "keep talking." 7 the publishing war over the rights to a brief history provided hawking with a $250,000 advance from bantam, whose publicity vice-president declared "the hawking story" a major market "for both the upmarket press and the mainstream media." 8 suiting the action to the word, bantam placed a half-page ad in the new york times book review for hawking's next book, black holes and baby universes (1993), proclaiming it "the astounding new work from the man who brought an entire generation to new frontiers." 9 the film version of a brief history was funded by nbc, britain's channel 4, and tokyo broadcasting; steven spielberg was instrumental in obtaining nbc's support for the film and suggested errol morris as its director, and george lucas's skywalker sound provided the film's sound effects. 10 shirley maclaine, who once made a pilgrimmage to cambridge to talk about the universe with hawking, was one of the most prominant guests at the los angeles party that celebrated the film's opening night. 11 hawking is clearly a celebrity. more, he is hero, a figure of moral authority whose celebrity rests on his intellectual achievements and ability to overcome adversity. he is, as the titles of so many articles about him proclaim, the "master of the universe," living proof of the power of "mind over matter." a hawking press conference has been likened to "being granted an audience with the dalai lama," rapt reporters "hanging on hawking's every word, hoping to learn the secrets of the universe." 12 so inspiring is his example that at least five biographies have been written of him expressly for children. 13 the chicago bar owners, asked why they launched the hawking fan club, explained that in our media-saturated age, the world needs "real" heroes rather than those produced by the sports/entertainment industry. 14 this view reflects the position, adopted by most commentators on celebrity and the media since daniel boorstin, that modern celebrities are people known not for their merits but simply for being well known. 15 hawking is thus a refreshing antidote, a throwback to a time when the famous served as worthy role models. this distinction between heroes and mere celebrities implies that heroes are worthy of their celebrity and do not need to court it. this is precisely the claim frequently made about hawking, that he has been drawn reluctantly into the limelight. four years prior to the publication of a brief history , timothy ferris complained that media interest in hawking's life "promises--or threatens--to make him a celebrity" by "offering up a hawking sans physics." 16 since the materialization of that threat, writers on hawking have almost invariably included a caveat like kitty ferguson's: "stephen hawking . . . doesn't want anyone to write a biography of him . . . . [the] science is what he would like you to know about him." 17 hawking has stated that a brief history "was intended as a history of the universe, not of me." 18 the series of questions about the history of the universe and the nature of time with which the book opens seems to confirm this, and many of the book's reviewers expressed regret that it contained so little insight into hawking's persona. writing in the new york times book review , marcia bartusiak longed for more of the "personal admissions" that would enable hawking's readers to see the human side of science: "although this book clearly was not intended to be an autobiography, it is still disappointing that mr. hawking keeps such revelations to a minimum." 19 yet a brief history of time is also a brief history of hawking. it may not be a personal autobiography, but it is very much the intellectual autobiography of a man whose life and science take place extensively in his mind. 20 the book's organizing principle is its author's career, and its subtitle, "from the big bang to black holes," charts the path of hawking's research interests as much as it does the history of the universe. the first five chapters sketch the development of cosmological theories up to the start of hawking's career in the mid-1960s, with special attention to general relativity and quantum mechanics. the second half of the book then presents recent cosmology by following the trajectory of hawking's own work. we move from hawking's early collaboration with roger penrose between 1965 and 1970, which established that if general relativity is correct, there must have been a big bang singularity at the beginning of time; to his research on black holes in the 1970s; to his effort, beginning in 1974 but especially after 1981, to unify relativity and quantum mechanics in a quantum theory of gravity. the centrality of hawking to a brief history can be gauged by the similar title he gave to an unpublished sketch of his life: "a short history." 21 the conflation of hawking's own research with the history of modern cosmology makes a brief history a rather self-promoting work. other contemporary cosmologists rarely receive more than passing mention. they are at best hawking's collaborators; more often, they have ideas whose importance only hawking can see, or they prove something crudely that only hawking can prove with thoroughness and elegance. even when they are right they are right for the wrong reasons. and when hawking is wrong it is merely because his model is too simple, with the admission of error presented as an example of scientific virtue in such a way that humility becomes self-celebration. examples of these rhetorical strategies can be seen in hawking's presentation of his debate with jacob bekenstein over black hole entropy and his discussion of the arrow of time. one of hawking's greatest discoveries is that black holes emit radiation or, as he puts it, that "black holes ain't so black." 22 the discovery of this "hawking radiation," as it is now called, overturned the very definition of black holes, but more important, it showed that the application of quantum mechanics to cosmology might provide a way of dealing with singularities, the points of infinite density and space-time curvature that general relativity predicts but cannot manipulate mathematically. the path to this discovery began in late 1970, when hawking realized that the area of a black hole's event horizon (i.e. its boundary, from within which nothing can escape) cannot decrease when matter falls into the black hole. this looked strikingly analogous to the second law of thermodynamics, which says that in a closed system, entropy (the measure of the system's disorder) cannot decrease. but it was a princeton postdoctoral researcher, jacob bekenstein, who argued that this was not merely an analogy, that the area of the event horizon is the measure of the black hole's entropy. hawking, "motivated partly by irritation with bekenstein, who, i felt, had misused my discovery," quickly co-authored a paper arguing that bekenstein's proposal had a "fatal flaw" (104): if a black hole has entropy, it must also have a temperature, and if it has a temperature it must emit radiation, but by definition a black hole can't emit anything. yet when hawking began to explore this issue further, his calculations revealed that black holes should emit radiation at a steady rate. at first he was sure he had made an error and labored to keep his work a secret: "i was afraid if bekenstein found out about it, he would use it as a further argument to support his ideas" (105). when hawking finally convinced himself that his results were accurate, he was able to employ quantum mechanics to account for the mechanism by which this radiation could be emitted. thus, while bekenstein turned out to be "basically correct," it was "in a manner he had certainly not expected" (104). hawking's version of this debate is more confessional in a brief history than it is in the contemporary account he wrote for scientific american in 1977. 23 yet the more confessional account in a brief history manages both to underplay hawking's hostility to bekenstein's ideas and to elevate hawking's own achievement. dennis overbye's depiction of hawking's reaction to bekenstein speaks of "derision," "outrage," "nonsense," and "bosh," with even dennis sciama, hawking's thesis advisor, referring to hawking's "sneer[s]" at bekenstein's work. 24 hawking's earlier account suppresses this debate entirely, but bekenstein is at least credited there with providing the "crucial suggestion" rather than being, as he is in a brief history , "basically correct." 25 in all these renderings, bekenstein simply disappears as if into a black hole, while hawking emerges, like hawking radiation itself, surprising and resplendent. the case of the arrow of time is one of the few instances in a brief history where hawking admits error. using his no-boundary model, the controversial proposal developed in the early 1980s that the universe is self-contained and hence had no starting-point, hawking asks what would happen if the universe stopped expanding and began to contract. at first he believed that entropy would decrease and that time would run backwards. but when calculations by other cosmologists challenged this conclusion, hawking says that "i realized . . . i had made a mistake." his "mistake," however, is presented in curiously passive terms: he "was misled" partly be an analogy he had employed and partly by relying on a model of the universe that was too simple--misled, in other words, by analogies and models of his own making. moreover, hawking uses the admission of his "mistake" as an example of scientific virtue on a par with einstein's famous repudiation of the cosmological constant: "what should you do when you find you have made a mistake like that some people never admit that they are wrong and continue to find new, and often mutually inconsistent, arguments to support their case . . . . others claim to have never really supported the incorrect view in the first place . . . . it seems to me much better and less confusing if you admit in print that you were wrong. a good example of this was einstein, who called the cosmological constant, which he introduced when he was trying to make a static model of the universe, the biggest mistake of his life" (150-51). a brief history thus differs from works about hawking only in degree. like every other modern celebrity, hawking's persona has been constructed and marketed, his story manipulated and controlled, for the purpose of selling, and this has occurred, as it can only occur, with his cooperation or at least acquiescence. as rein, kotler, and stoller note in high visibility , the star who seems to resist celebrity and professes himself "a 'real,' just-plain-folks person" is adopting a common marketing approach. 26 rein, kotler, and stoller argue that the extension of the entertainment sector's celebrity-making and celebrity-marketing techniques into sectors traditionally less associated with them led in the 1970s to the emergence of high-visibility figures in professions like business, law, medicine--and science. central to these techniques, what they regard as the celebrity industry's major innovation in the 1970s and 1980s, is "dramatic reality": "the conscious design, manipulation, and promotion of storylines in celebrities' lives--up to the point of creating realities more dramatic than real life." 27 each storyline should be cast in a clear narrative form, with the celebrity, by virtue of his unrelenting talent, ultimately triumphing over adversity and achieving some form of reward or recognition. the narrative must be tailored for its target audience, tested to gauge its success, and repeated to insure that it becomes well-established. the key is story control--celebrity storylines must be created and managed with care. hawking's condition gives him special advantages in the control of his story and especially in its repetition. virtually unintelligable by the late 1970s, he lost his speech entirely after a tracheostomy in 1985. he now speaks through a voice synthesizer attached to his wheelchair-mounted computer, a system that also enables him to store his answers to frequently asked questions. thus, in addition to what his biographers michael white and john gribbin call "a veritable folk tradition of anecdotes" about hawking's university days, anything written by or about hawking contains the same responses and illustrations and stories, repeated literally verbatim. 28 as a bbc interviewer noted to him, the difficulty with which he can formulate a response to a question "means you can demand good notice of any interviewer's questions and need only answer when you're good and ready." 29 the outline of hawking's story as it was disseminated beyond the physics community fits the basic criteria of dramatic reality: brilliant young physicist, stricken with fatal disease, is given will to live by his love for the woman he will marry, carries on in the face of his disease, and emerges as one of his generation's leading cosmologists, explaining the fundamental mysteries of the universe. 30 hawking's story depended from the start on this combination of his science and his disability for the broad human interest that resonated with various sectors of the mainstream audience when profiles of him began to appear. between the late 1970s and 1988, stories about hawking in print and on tv appeared with increasing frequency and in increasing depth, but even the earliest profiles discussed hawking's disease and showed him in his wheelchair. 31 a brief history merely exploited and expanded this interest rather than creating it. hawking's story having been, in effect, test marketed through these profiles, it is no wonder that bantam, with little experience in publishing popular science books, was willing to pay an author with no experience in writing them a six-figure advance. moreover, with the basic "dramatic reality" already in place, bantam had only to heighten and refine the hawking storylines, which it did in two ways. first, although hawking's disability figures only minimally and incidentally in the book, bantam made it a prominent marketing feature. the cover of the book contains a large photograph of hawking in his wheelchair--as david blum noted at the time, an almost unprecedented feature for any nonfiction work other than biography or autobiography, and virtually unique for a work of popular science--while the dust jacket declares that "[f]rom the vantage point of his wheelchair where he has spent the last twenty years trapped by lou gehrig's disease, professor hawking himself has transformed our view of the universe." 32 second, on the physics side, bantam elevated hawking's status. whereas in earlier profiles he is identified by some variation on the phrase, "one of world's leading theoretical physicists," the dust jacket of a brief history proclaims him "one of the great minds of the twentieth century." while earlier writers often discuss hawking's work in the historical context of problems also investigated by newton, galileo, and einstein, and note that he is "perhaps" or "sometimes" regarded as the equal of einstein, the dust jacket's biographical blurb on hawking leaves no doubt about his stature: "he was born on the anniversary of galileo's death, holds newton's chair as lucasian professor of mathematics at cambridge university and is widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since einstein." this heightening of hawking's status is more than marketing hype, for it is woven into the text of a brief history itself. several commentators have noted that the capsule biographies of newton, galileo, and einstein with which the book concludes seem to imply that hawking regards himself as "next in line in any future a brief history of time ." 33 we needn't wait until the future, for a brief history is itself the biography that precedes the others, and one that even suggests hawking has eclipsed his illustrious predecessors in various ways. hawking tells his readers, parenthetically, that he holds the lucasian professorship at cambridge (68). he also mentions the "coincidence" of being born on the anniversary of galileo's death and declares his "strong sense of identity" with galileo at the moment when he is explaining his no-boundary proposal and its theological implications (116). he initially presented this proposal at a conference on cosmology sponsored by the vatican in 1981, and thus he quips that he was glad that the pope, who later addressed the conference, was not aware of the content of his talk. recalling galileo's troubles with the catholic church, hawking manages both to identify himself with galileo, "coincidence" notwithstanding, and to one-up him: whereas galileo was forced to recant his views, hawking receives prizes from the vatican and presents his proposals under the pope's nose. 34 hawking also subtly portrays himself as both the successor and by implication the better of einstein. while hawking, like einstein, searches for a complete unified theory of the universe, einstein, unlike hawking, "refused to believe in the reality of quantum mechanics," which is precisely what will make the development of such a theory possible (155). whereas einstein contended, in his famous expression of aversion for the uncertainties of quantum mechanics, that "god does not play dice with the universe," hawking contends that black hole radiation proves einstein "doubly wrong"--"god not only plays dice but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen." 35 if hawking's no-boundary model of the universe is correct, then the answer to another of einstein's questions, "how much choice did god have in constructing the universe" is that god had "no freedom at all to choose initial conditions" and very limited freedom to choose the laws that the universe obeyed (174). hawking's frequent excursions into religion and metaphysics are another component of his celebrity. the two best-known passages from a brief history involve the implications of hawking's cosmology for religion. the book's famous concluding sentence declares that a complete theory of the universe would be "the ultimate triumph of human reason--for then we would know the mind of god" (175). although this seems to accept the existence of god even as it celebrates human reason, it is undermined by hawking's equally famous and even more controversial claim that if his no-boundary proposal is correct, then the universe is self-contained, with no beginning or end, and "what place, then, for a creator" (140-41). as the answer to this rhetorical question is of course no place, most readers have had no trouble discerning its implications: since hawking's work aims to provide a complete theory of the universe, the triumph we will celebrate, and the mind we will come to know, will be his. hawking understands god better than einstein because hawking is the ultimate celebrity: god himself. such a move is the logical extension of the strand of enlightenment science that sought to replace the authority of religion with the authority of science. by aligning himself so overtly with galileo against catholic dogma and with quantum theorists against einstein's theism, hawking positions his work in a meta-narrative about cosmology that protects it from enemies both without and within. if this exposes him to charges of hubris in the popular press and criticism from philosophers and theologians, it's nonetheless good for sales--which hawking has said would have been halved had he cut the book's final sentence, as he at one point contemplated. 36 instead, hawking has minimized the potential for damaging fallout by denying he strays onto the religion side of the science/religion divide and by qualifying the theological implications of his cosmology. 37 yet he does so even as he continues to promote the no-boundary proposal, asserting recently that in offering testable predictions the proposal wrenches cosmology out of the hands of theologians and "makes cosmology into a science." 38 hawking similarly distances himself from the dramatic storylines used to promote a brief history . the notion that he is a hero or a second einstein he has on some occasions bluntly dismissed as "rubbish" and "mere media hype," while on others he has been more ambiguous, coyly commenting that people shouldn't believe everything they read. 39 he has also consistently expressed discomfort with attention given to his personal life and his disease, at one point even stating that "neither i nor my family would have any self-respect left" if he allowed a film to be made of his life or cooperated in the production of a biography. 40 but as rein, kotler, and stoller note, a celebrity's exposure can only be maintained and expanded by communicating the storylines of dramatic reality to new sectors, promoting them through different channels, or adding details to them, all of which have certainly been the case with hawking. 41 he has in fact cooperated with virtually every published work about his life and science, and he willingly participated in morris's film. each book, article, and television profile contains the same elements, the same stories, even the same words. a brief history itself has been repackaged, sometimes with biographical material, in a variety of forms, most of them far more exotic, elaborate, and expensive than the original, from the 1992 reader's companion to morris's film, to the interactive cd-rom version, to the illustrated brief history in 1997. a recent bbc/pbs series, stephen hawking's universe , with its accompanying book and cd-rom, attempts to translate the everyday language of a brief history into everyday language. hawking's 1993 essay collection, black holes and baby universes , contains several autobiographical pieces, while his cambridge lectures --also available in audio, print, or cd-rom--recycles much of its material from a brief history and black holes and baby universes . the hawking storylines thus have been not only reinforced for his target audience but also distributed to new audience sectors in a range of formats encompassing almost all contemporary media. a definitive example of hawking's active participation in the marketing of his celebrity is the appearance he initiated on star trek: the next generation . 42 hawking plays himself in the opening scene, in which lieutenant commander data, an android, has conjured up a holographic poker game featuring himself, newton, einstein, and hawking. newton is portrayed as insufferably arrogant, einstein as genially fallible (he cannot keep track of the bet), hawking as slightly aloof but very much in control. in the process of the hand and its accompanying banter, hawking snubs newton by sharing an inside joke with einstein and data about relativity and by complaining sarcastically about newton's self-absorption--"not the apple story again," groans hawking. ultimately, hawking forces newton to fold. einstein is vanquished with equal panache when, certain that hawking is bluffing, he calls the bet, predicting that hawking will lose. "wrong again, albert," says hawking's voice synthesizer, as his electronic card-holder lays down four of a kind. why does hawking distance himself from the storylines he has worked so hard to create and promote most celebrities keep the processes of their image-building hidden as much as possible, rein, kotler, and stoller argue, because the exposure of these processes can undermine the audience's sense of the celebrity's authenticity. 43 but in hawking's case the situation is especially fraught, for the two storylines are potentially at odds with each other and with the human requirements of celebrity. as a scientist, hawking works in a field celebrated for its objectivity. the truth of his ideas and his status as a cosmologist should thus be judged without reference to his his disability. so hawking must deny the relevance of his biography even as he feeds the public fascination with it, for it is, after all, the biography that makes him unique rather than just one among many fine cosmologists. but this uniqueness poses problems of its own. if hawking is the greatest physicist of our century, then he is deeply unlike the rest of us. to facilitate our identification with him, he and his handlers provide us with information about his life. but in this area, too, hawking is deeply unlike the rest of us. and because his disease has forced him to live a life almost totally cerebral, he risks becoming something other than fully human. to display his personal life and physical body is to display the extent to which hawking has become a cyborg, part organism, part machine, dependent for his existence on various prostheses--wheelchair, specially-rigged computer, voice synthesizer. counteracting the image of hawking as purely cerebral, a sort of human computer, requires the release of additional biographical details. yet the details that perhaps make him most human--the breakdown of his twenty five-year marriage over his affair with (and subsequent marriage to) elaine mason, one of his nurses and the wife of the man who designed his voice synthesizer--have had to be minimized and suppressed because of the threat such a scandal poses to his heroic persona. hawking's discomfort with the display of his disability and its accompanying prostheses can also be located in a wider cultural context. in their respective studies of the representation of the disabled body and the cyborg body, rosemarie thomson and jennifer gonzalez both argue that these representations reflect the social anxieties, the fears and desires, of what thomson dubs the dominant "normate" subject position. 44 invoking and extending donna haraway's work on the cyborg, thomson associates the disabled with the cyborg, for "[a]ll persons with physical disabilities . . . embody the 'illegitimate fusion' of the cultural categories 'normal,' which qualifies people for human status, and 'abnormal,' which disqualifies them." 45 in hawking's case, however, we have the opportunity to observe the disabled person/cyborg representing him/itself. what we find is that hawking, while resisting the traditional associations of normate representations of disability and the cyborg, also participates in them, thus displaying in his self-representation the very same anxieties. as martin norden and thomson have demonstrated in their respective studies of disability in film and literature, the disabled character is almost invariably isolated, seen from the perspective of the able-bodied, and, whether a villian or a saint, a static figure denied full subjectivity. 46 robert bogden, while noting in his history of the freak show that some aspects of these shows presented disability in a positive light, argues that the display of the disabled as a curiosity nonetheless fundamentally reinforced the notion that most disabled people were abnormal and incapable of functioning like others. 47 cyborgs in fiction and film have tended to be represented in similar terms. 48 when they are not presented as outright villains who threaten human existence, cyborgs are depicted, like the disabled, as lacking or having lost some basic component of humanity. hawking attempts to avoid implication in normate representations of disability by stressing his normalcy on the one hand, his achievements on the other, but this simply enmeshes him in them more deeply. nineteenth-century freak shows transformed their freaks into celebrities through aggressive promotion that relied heavily on portrait photographs and fabricated biographies. in what bogdan calls the "low aggrandized mode" of freak presentation, emphasis was placed on the respectability and normalcy of the freak and his family, the ability of the freak to compensate for his disabilities, and the moral superiority of the freak. in the "high aggrandized mode," the freak's status was the focus. 49 while the dramatic reality of hawking's storylines is not pitched through the sort of staged display and bogus titles of the freak show, the characteristics of the low aggrandized mode correspond closely to the strategies employed in selling the personal side of hawking's story (his family life, how he compensates for his disability, his courage in the face of his disease), those of the high aggrandized mode with the selling of the professional side (his links to newton, galileo, and einstein and his many honors and awards, especially non-scientific ones). hawking's relationship to the current disability movement is ambiguous. he has been outspoken, especially against the town and the university in cambridge, about the need to accommodate those with disabilities, condemning the isolation of the disabled and resisting any effort to identify himself in those terms. for his efforts, he was named man of the year by the royal association for disability and rehabilitation in 1979. 50 at the same time, hawking is reluctant to think or talk about his condition and consistently stresses how "normal" his life is, that his wheelchair and voice synthesizer are merely "aids" that help him in "overcoming physical deficiencies." 51 such attitudes nonetheless identify him with the message that disabled people and their advocates have increasingly denounced as part of the charity industry's paternalistic focus on disability as impairment, an affliction that must be overcome if the disabled person is to approach full humanity. 52 hawking would clearly be uncomfortable with thomson's proclamation that a celebration of the postmodern body involves the recognition that "a wheelchair is a part of the self." 53 yet hawking's wheelchair and voice synthesizer are integral to his existence and identity. as sandy stone has noted, "hawking doesn't stop being hawking at the edge of his visible body." 54 without his prostheses, there would be no stephen hawking. yet hawking is at best ambivalent about his cyborg identity. at times he revels in being a high-tech marvel--as his tv appearances with androids and his role as pitchman for the latest technology of u.s. robotics attest. and he clearly delights in the notion that he has transcended his physical limitations, living a life truly of and in the mind. however, hawking is ultimately as uncomfortable embracing his cyborgism as he is embracing his disability. his insistence that he be seen as fully human resonates in relation to both of these categories. this insistence takes two forms. in the first, hawking adopts a cartesian stance, admitting that his life is almost exclusively a mental one but asserting that this is what makes him human. as white and gribbin put it, hawking's mind is "the essence of his being" and his reliance on technology is "irrelevant" to his humanity. 55 in the second, hawking contends that his life is physical. his humanity is expressed through his technologies, as when he runs his wheelchair over the toes of those who bore or annoy him. and, although it is never explicitly acknowledged, he is sexually potent: he has married, fathered three children, had an affair, and married again. one of the few direct references to his life in a brief history overtly juxtaposes his disability and his virility: "[s]hortly after the birth of my daughter, lucy, i started to think about black holes as i was getting into bed. my disability makes this a rather slow process, so i had plenty of time" (99). hawking's claim that he has sold more books on physics than madonna has on sex combines these strategies by simultaneously identifying him with the public display of sexuality and then trumping it. physics is better than sex. whether insisting on his physicality of his body or his transcendence of it, hawking expresses anxiety about gender identifications. the disabled, as thomson has shown, have traditionally been feminized and de-eroticized--the disabled man is not a real man. 56 to the extent that hawking's disability is employed in his storylines and their marketing, its feminizing associations are countered by evidence of his masculinity. theoretical physics is a field dominated by men. but if anne balsamo is right, hawking's rejection of the body is also an assertion of masculinism. balsamo argues that the cultures of cyberspace and virtual reality, with their disdain for the body as a limiting piece of "meat," have been constructed largely along masculinist lines. this desire to transcend the body represents an attempt to neutralize its social meanings, especially for gender, race, ethnicity, and ability, in an era when women, gays and lesbians, ethnic and racial minorities, and the disabled are asserting their social presence. 57 whereas women have been able to challenge the normate vision of the cyborg, especially in cybernetic fiction, by envisioning a continuum between the machine and the human, hawking seems committed to the more traditional oppositional position in which cyborgs are either rejected as unhuman or reinscribed with the very marks of masculinism they ostensibly transcend. hawking's efforts to control his identification with the cyborg are thus disrupted by those feminists since donna haraway who have called for the embrace of the cyborg as a quintessentially postmodern, posthuman figure that offers a potentially liberating model, especially for women. errol morris's film version of a brief history is the best venue in which to see the dramatic reality of hawking's life, complete with the anxieties and desires it engenders, put on display. because the film was not as fully under hawking's control as other representations of him have been, it both participates in the celebration of hawking and calls that celebration into question, highlighting the tensions that are elsewhere submerged. although morris clearly admires hawking, he is aware of his subject's failings and limitations. he sees hawking both as "a very heroic character" and "a symbol of human frailty." 58 the film explores hawking's identification with newton, galileo, and einstein and relies on the same "folk tradition of anecdotes" that stocks the various profiles. morris's decision to interview his subjects in a studio, in elaborate reconstructions of sites from hawking's home and office, was intended to "create a world around stephen hawking," thereby making hawking the center of this movie universe. 59 but by bringing the book's autobiographical elements to the surface--a strategy with which hawking was originally uncomforable--morris makes hawking's self-presentation more evident. 60 morris has described his film as part science lecture and part biography, but its organization is explicitly chronological, moving through the major periods of hawking's life and work. the voices of family members and colleagues are not only prominent but more memorable than hawking's computer-voice narration, and while many of their stories celebrate hawking's genius, many others are double-edged. unlike the book, the film contains the voices of other physicists, who are able to describe their own work and assess hawking's. john wheeler, jacob bekenstein's supervisor, provides part of the account of the dispute with hawking about black hole entropy. don page, a former student and evangelical christian who has challenged hawking's theological speculations, tells a story of hawking toppling over backwards in his wheelchair, "the master of gravity overcome by the weak gravitational force of the earth." in particular, hawking's desire to play god comes across as a fundamental characteristic of his personality from early childhood. like many other commentators, morris regards hawking's assertions of control and dominance, his mastery of black holes and of the universe as a whole, as a poignant response to the physical dilemma in which hawking is himself a collapsing star who will one day be unable to communicate. 61 but morris also makes clear that hawking's need for dominance pre-dates his condition. a family friend recalls hawking's organization of an evening of scottish dancing at which stephen assumed the role of "the master of the proceedings," forcing all the family members to dress formally. his sister and mother speak of "dynasty," a childhood board game invented by hawking. this "fearful," "terrible" game, which had such complicated rules that it took days to play, was, according to his mother, "a substitute for living"--"it was the complication of it that appealed to him," she says. one of his childhood friends, in an interview that was not included in the film, recalled that hawking "loved the fact that he had created the world and then created the laws that governed it. and that he was causing us to obey those laws: he enjoyed that, too." 62 such stories present a problematic aspect of hawking's personality that control of his dramatic storylines usually manages either to marginalize or to gloss in happier terms. 63 morris's film is silent about the breakup of hawking's marriage. both jane hawking and elaine mason declined to be interviewed, and hawking refused to discuss the recent events in his personal life. morris has said he would have used the interviews if he had them, and he argues that they would have made for a slightly but not significantly different film. 64 morris is justified in saying this in part because he does present the story of his subject's life through 1991. in the film's final biographical moment, hawking recounts an accident in which his wheelchair was struck by a car when he misjudged the time he had to cross a cambridge road safely. hawking has said that this is one of the two stories in the film that make him "squirm," despite the fact that in the film he emphasizes that he was back at work in a few days. 65 morris thus leaves his audience with a highly ambiguous anecdote that can be read as a metaphor for hawking's hubris, his overreaching, his belief that he is heroic or divine, but also as another sign of hawking's triumph over adversity and his will to live. it is in its visual depiction of hawking, however, that morris's film most fully explores the ambiguities of hawking's disability and the meaning of his cyborg status. norden stresses that the isolation of disabled characters in film has always been reinforced by visual conventions: disabled characters are rarely seen interacting with other characters, and when they are, framing, camera angles, and lighting are manipulated to emphasize the disabled figure's marginal status. 66 david hevey makes similar claims about the representation of disabled subjects in photography. symbols of isolation and otherness, objects of pity or fear, disabled subjects are posed in stiff, passive positions, gazed at rather than gazing back; at the mercy of the camera, they are depicted in individual frames rather than narrative sequence, their disability displayed as impairment. 67 noting the emergence in the 1970s and 80s of films featuring wheelchair-bound computer whizzes as a more positive alternative to high-tech, prosthetically-equipped disabled villains like darth vader, norden nonetheless argues that the affirmation of the whizzes' intelligence is ultimately diminished: "the films' common-denominator image--a wheelchair-using man who at the request of some able-bodied superior expertly manipulates the computers and associated paraphernalia surrounding him--creates the notion that the characters are all brain and no body . . . . in addition, their wheelchairs start to take on a dehumanizing quality, in the sense that the vehicles and their users begin to mesh figuratively with the surrounding technology. the impression often left by these films is that the characters are . . . part machine themselves." 68 morris clearly challenges several of these stereotypes and visual traditions. hawking is central rather than marginal to the film, it is his story that is narrated, and much of that story is told in his words and in ways that are shaped and controlled by him, at least indirectly. he is neither villain nor saintly innocent, and although he is a wheelchair-bound computer whiz, he has a life of his own and is certainly not at the mercy of an able-bodied superior. morris's use of montage reflects a common artistic strategy for the exploration of the cyborg, and he has compared his technique for connecting the pieces of film to the digitized processes of hawking's own self-representation: "i edited in passages where the screen goes black to convey the feeling of information being parceled out in bits and pices, as they are with stephen's computer." 69 at several points the camera looks up, rather than down, at hawking. and morris deliberately rejects the grainy, black-and-white naturalism of the journalistic documentary that hevey associates with the social realism of paternalistic liberalism. 70 nonetheless, a brief history presents an isolated hawking. morris has said that his biggest challenge in making the film was how to construct a narrative around his subject. 71 despite the obvious precedent of connecting hawking's life and work, morris's dilemma is not surprising. in her discussion of cyborg fiction, katherine hayles argues that cyborg narratives "can be understood as stories only by reference ot the very life cycle narratives that are no longer sufficient to explain them." as a result, the cyborg "life cycle" tends to be told through the interpenetration, sometimes symbiotic, sometimes conflictual, of two narrative patterns: the arc of human life from birth to sexual maturity to death and the machine processes of assembly and disassembly. 72 in morris's film these narrative patterns are intertwined: as hawking's human life cycle progresses, so too does his assembly as a machine. this is a narrative the film presents as loss--the disassembly of hawking's body may not eliminate his humanity entirely, but it removes him the domain of the human in important ways. as shawn rosenheim has demonstrated, morris relies heavily on "the narrative logic and emotional trajectory" of the incredible shrinking man (1957), whose protagonist similarly experiences "exile from human society and its meanings." 73 this isolation is communicated more forcefully in visual terms. despite the stories of his social interactions, hawking never appears with another person in live shots. while the other interviewees face the camera and engage with it, hawking is uniformly gazed at from odd perspectives, often in extreme and sharply angled close-ups that only capture parts of his face. frequently, we see him reflected in the screen of the computer mounted on his wheelchair; sometimes we see only his hand, clicking the mouse by which he controls the computer, or his shoe on the wheelchair's footrest, or--with increasing frequency as the film progresses--only parts of the wheelchair itself. the visual strategy, to use hevey's terms, is on fragmenting hawking's body to focus on his impairment and his efforts to overcome it. already passive and without his own voice, hawking is steadily de-humanized, turned into a machine. as a visual object, he is treated in the same way as iv bottles, ventilators, the gears of clocks, and his wheelchair. hawking has said that morris manipulated him during filming as if he were a sofa. 74 in fact, in an ironic commentary on the disposibility of the cyborg, hawking was almost completely expendable physically. morris used a mock-up of hawking's wheelchair, employed a double for him, and programmed a duplicate of hawking's voice synthesizer, thus doubly disembodying the man he has called the ultimate non-talking talking head. 75 this dehumanization is especially evident in the film's final scene. as hawking's synthesizer reads the final paragraph of a brief history , the camera pans from his face to his arm and wheelchair to one of his wheelchair wheels. finally, we look at the hawking's wheelchair from behind, beyond it the night sky. reviewers of the film have seen this final image as celebratory: it is hawking "riding his wheelchair into the limitless cosmos of unfettered human thought." 76 timothy ferris says we see hawking here "in his glory": "he resembles one of those first-magnitude stars . . . : we can see him, all right, but everything around him seems plunged into darkness." 77 ferris, however, is wrong: we do not see hawking--he has been reduced to body pieces and wheelchair parts, and has disappeared almost entirely, the top of his head barely visible above his wheelchair. as rosenheim puts it, "[b]y the films's end, hawking has completely disappeared into his technologies." 78 the film's last spoken word is "god," and its last textual word is "stephen," the license plate that hangs on the back of the wheelchair, but the equation of these two words, which the book works so subtly to construct, is here problematized by morris's ambiguous and ironic vision. it is possible to dismiss morris's film as yet another ableist portrait of the disabled body, another example of modernism's refusal to embrace the postmodern and posthuman. but what morris is capturing is hawking's own ambivalence, and ultimately discomfort, with these subject positions. "cyborgs," says donna haraway, "do not re-member the cosmos," but stephen hawking has devoted his adult life to doing just that. 79 indeed, hawking has said that his research, which he calls playing "the game of the universe," distracts him from thinking about his health. 80 bringing to life the history of the universe and speculating about its fate is a way to avoid confronting the fate of his body. to celebrate fully his disabled, cybernetic identity would be, for hawking, a surrender to the forces that his life and science have always regarded as other and have been dedicated to overcoming. stephen hawking wrote a brief history of time because he wanted to communicate his excitement about modern cosmology and to make some money to pay for his children's schooling and his own nursing care. but making money meant selling books, and selling books meant becoming a participant in the world of modern celebrity-making and celebrity-marketing. that hawking was disabled made his book easier to market than the many other books, before and since, on physics and cosmology, but its continuing success has surely more to do with the various and often competing cultural meanings into which "the hawking story" taps and of which it has become iconic. for stephen hawking's ambivalences are, ultimately, his culture's as well. he offers up our own anxieties about technology's liberating possibilities and dehumanizing threats, about diversity's simultaneously communal and disruptive potential, about science's triumphant rationalism and bleak nihilism, about the media's role in the creation of a reality which we devour insatiably but of which we are suspicious--and perhaps most of all, about our confrontation with the postmodern call to cease seeing such things in terms of opposites and to revel instead in their complexities, contradictions, and indeterminancies. embodying modernity's encounter with postmodernity, hawking enacts both the fascination and the discomfort of modernity's reaction. notes.

Remembering Stephen Hawking and Future Science

An original essay about the science of the future by the late theoretical physicist.

Stephen Hawking, titan of theoretical physics and beloved public scientist, has died at the age of 76. Hawking’s age despite his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more than 50 years ago is itself a marvel, but this pioneering thinker and author of such works as A Brief History of Time will be remembered far longer. The stars glow a bit dimmer today.In his essay, “ The Future of Science ”—which we promise you  will  be able to understand—he discusses science fiction, common sense, and why it’s likely we’ll reach other planets but be unlikely to recognize the life we discover there.

There is great interest in the future, as is shown by the popularity of the ‘Star Wars’ films and the ‘Star Trek’ series. Nearly all the visions of the future that we have been shown, from H. G. Wells on, have been essentially static. … Yet, at least at the end of the second millennium, the world is inhabited by people who are much the same as those in the year 1000. By the year 3000, this may well no longer be true. We can extrapolate existing trends, but the unexpected will probably happen, as it has in the past.

Read the entire essay and download the PDF.

Plus, a bonus essay on “The Nature of Time and Space” from Scientific American .

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Triumph Over Adversity: The Inspirational Journey of Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking’s Extraordinary Quest for Knowledge and Triumph over Adversity.

The life of Stephen Hawking stands as an awe-inspiring and powerful reminder that the indomitable human spirit is capable of transcending the seemingly insurmountable limitations imposed by the physical world. From his early days as a precocious and intellectually gifted young mind to his eventual rise as an internationally renowned physicist and cosmologist, Hawking’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. It serves as a profound beacon of hope, demonstrating that the formidable adversities of life can be conquered through unwavering willpower, relentless determination, and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Stephen Hawking’s unparalleled and enduring legacy continues to inspire generations to come, igniting the flames of curiosity and resilience in countless hearts, as they navigate their own paths through the labyrinth of challenges, and find solace in the boundless potential that lies within the depths of the human spirit.

Early Life and the Onset of Adversity

Born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England, Stephen Hawking exhibited an early fascination with the mysteries of the cosmos. Despite his exceptional intellect, the young prodigy’s life took a tumultuous turn when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 21. This crippling neurological disease left him confined to a wheelchair, bound by a degenerative condition that would gradually rob him of his physical capabilities.

The Emergence of a Scientific Mind

While adversity threatened to limit his pursuits, it only fueled Stephen Hawking’s determination to pursue his passion for science. As his body weakened, his mind soared to new heights. Through sheer resilience, he discovered that adversities can indeed become smaller when confronted with an unyielding spirit. His groundbreaking research on black holes and the origin of the universe revolutionized the field of cosmology and earned him international acclaim.

The Power of Adaptation

Stephen Hawking’s relentless pursuit of knowledge exemplified his ability to adapt to the challenges presented by his physical limitations. Embracing the power of technology, he utilized a speech synthesizer to communicate, allowing him to engage with the world and continue his scientific contributions. This remarkable adaptation not only highlighted his intellectual brilliance but also demonstrated that the human spirit could transcend the boundaries of physical existence.

A Life Beyond Academia

While Stephen Hawking’s scientific achievements are legendary, his inspirational journey extended beyond academia. As an author, he penned several best-selling books, including “A Brief History of Time,” a masterpiece that introduced complex scientific concepts to the general public in an accessible manner. Through his writings, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to communicate the wonders of the cosmos, captivating readers with his profound insights.

Courage in the Face of Adversity

Stephen Hawking’s life serves as a beacon of courage and resilience for individuals facing adversity in all walks of life. His determination to overcome the insurmountable odds posed by ALS showcased the power of the human spirit to triumph over even the most daunting challenges. His refusal to surrender to despair and his unwavering commitment to scientific exploration are testaments to the potency of willpower and its ability to navigate the darkest of circumstances.

Notable Work: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe

Stephen Hawking’s exceptional contributions to the fields of theoretical physics and cosmology have left an indelible mark on the scientific community, reshaping our understanding of the cosmos and its intricacies. One of his most remarkable works, “A Brief History of Time,” published in 1988, stands as a seminal piece in popular science literature, captivating both scholars and the general public alike. In this groundbreaking book, Hawking eloquently delved into complex topics, such as the nature of time, the origins of the universe, and the enigmatic black holes, making these profound scientific concepts accessible to a wider audience.

Through “A Brief History of Time,” Hawking artfully elucidated the intricate interplay of gravity, space, and time, expounding on the fundamental principles of general relativity and quantum mechanics. He deftly navigated the realms of theoretical physics, skillfully guiding readers through the nuances of the Big Bang theory and the expansion of the universe, revealing the mesmerizing beauty hidden within the mathematical equations that govern our existence.

Moreover, Hawking’s groundbreaking research on black holes revolutionized our understanding of these enigmatic cosmic phenomena. He postulated that black holes, previously thought to be entirely black, could emit radiation due to quantum effects near their event horizons, a concept now widely known as “Hawking radiation.” This discovery not only bridged the gap between the seemingly incompatible worlds of general relativity and quantum mechanics but also challenged long-held notions about the inexorable nature of black holes.

Throughout his illustrious career, Stephen Hawking pursued a relentless quest to find a unified theory of the universe, often referred to as the “Theory of Everything.” This hypothetical framework sought to integrate the fundamental forces of nature and explain the fundamental structure of the cosmos. Although he never succeeded in fully realizing this grand vision, his relentless pursuit of this elusive goal inspired subsequent generations of physicists to continue the search for a unifying theory that would unlock the deepest secrets of the universe.

Stephen Hawking’s notable work extended beyond academia and research. As an educator and communicator of science, he left an enduring impact on the dissemination of knowledge, making esoteric subjects accessible and captivating to both scientific enthusiasts and lay readers. His contributions to humanity’s collective understanding of the universe continue to reverberate across the scientific community, inspiring curiosity and fostering an insatiable hunger for knowledge.

Inspiring Future Generations

Beyond his scientific contributions, Stephen Hawking’s tenacity and fortitude continue to inspire future generations of scholars, scientists, and dreamers. His life story serves as a poignant reminder that adversities, though formidable, can be conquered with a resolute spirit. Young minds, facing their own trials, can find solace and motivation in his journey, realizing that even in the face of immense difficulties, the pursuit of knowledge and personal growth is a beacon of hope.

Legacy & Impact

The legacy of Stephen Hawking endures as an everlasting testament to the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. His unparalleled contributions to cosmology and physics transformed our understanding of the universe, leaving an indelible mark on the scientific community. But perhaps more importantly, his unwavering determination serves as a beacon of inspiration for all of humanity, reminding us that our true potential lies not in our physical prowess but in the depth of our spirit.

The life of Stephen Hawking stands as a powerful reminder that the human spirit is capable of transcending the limitations imposed by the physical world. His journey from a curious and brilliant young mind to an internationally renowned physicist serves as a beacon of hope, demonstrating that the adversities of life can be conquered through unwavering willpower and a thirst for knowledge. Stephen Hawking’s life is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit over the challenges of existence, inspiring generations to come with his remarkable story of resilience and courage in the face of adversity.

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In this Wednesday, July 21, 1999 file photo Professor Stephen Hawking smiles during a news ... [+] conference at the University of Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany. Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by disease, has died, a family spokesman said early Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

The brilliant physicist, Stephen Hawking, passed away at 76 on Wednesday in Cambridge, England. Though he never won a Nobel Prize, his book, A Brief History of Time , which helped make science more accessible to everyone, brought him worldwide fame, and his wicked sense of humor made him a beloved pop culture figure . Hawking was diagnosed with ALS at only 21 and was given five years to live, but went on not only to outlive his doctor's estimations, but went on to complete his very best work. His intellect and zest for life inspired the world to be curious, and is one of the most formidable examples of triumph of the human spirit. Here are just a few things Dr. Hawking taught us, about ourselves and the cosmos:

Intelligence Is Not Your IQ 

Intelligence is not the intellect you were born with, it is how hard you are willing to work, and have the awareness and astuteness to know things are changing. "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change," Hawking said at his Oxford University graduation.

Know How Little You Know

There are many iterations of the wisdom that the more you know the more you realize how little you know. Hawking's is, "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

There Is A Way Out Of A Black Hole

Often, the great physicist's observations applied to matters of the cosmos and life itself. During a lecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Hawking said,

Black holes ain’t as black as they are painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought. Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly to another universe. So if you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up — there’s a way out.”

Mistakes Are Important 

Hawking never subscribed to the idea that he was somehow perfect, he believed in the importance of flaws."The next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist."

Intellectual Showboating Is Stupid 

 In an interview with Piers Morgan , Morgan said members of the public believe Hawking is the most intelligent person in the world. He asked Hawking if he believes so, and if not, who? "I would never claim this. People who boast about their IQ are losers."

Be Curious 

Hawking was nothing if not a champion of insatiable curiosity, and the belief in oneself. At the Sydney Opera House he said, 

Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”  

Never Believe The Course Of Your Life Is Predestined 

"My expectations were reduced to zero when I turned 21. Everything since then has been a bonus," he said in an interview with the New York Times.

Be Persistent 

What Hawking overcame, and what he went on to accomplish is beyond extraordinary and completely inspiring. His refusal to give up his intellectual pursuits in spite of his condition, is the personification of persistence. "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up," he said. 

Never Underestimate Yourself 

"I have always tried to overcome the limitations of my condition and lead as full a life as possible. I have traveled the world, from the Antarctic to zero gravity," Hawking told the New York Times. 

Be Grateful 

Hawking never took anything for granted, and never felt the fate of his own life or of our universe was anyone's responsibility but his own, and mankind's, and felt grateful for his life, and the opportunities he had to study the cosmos.

No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there is probably no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful."

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A journey through the mind of stephen hawking and the wonders of a brief history of time, robert hawking and stephen hawking, relevant topics.

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The Work of Stephen Hawking in Physical Review

To mark the passing of Stephen Hawking, we gathered together his 55 papers in Physical Review D and Physical Review Letters . They probe the edges of space and time, from "Black holes and thermodynamics” to "Wave function of the Universe."

90 citations

Occurrence of singularities in open universes, s. w. hawking, phys. rev. lett. 15 , 689 (1965) – published 25 october 1965, 97 citations, singularities in the universe, phys. rev. lett. 17 , 444 (1966) – published 22 august 1966, 738 citations, gravitational radiation from colliding black holes, phys. rev. lett. 26 , 1344 (1971) – published 24 may 1971, 50 citations, theory of the detection of short bursts of gravitational radiation, g. w. gibbons and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 4 , 2191 (1971) – published 15 october 1971, 958 citations, black holes and thermodynamics, phys. rev. d 13 , 191 (1976) – published 15 january 1976, 757 citations, path-integral derivation of black-hole radiance, j. b. hartle and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 13 , 2188 (1976) – published 15 april 1976, 1,507 citations, breakdown of predictability in gravitational collapse, phys. rev. d 14 , 2460 (1976) – published 15 november 1976, 2,179 citations, cosmological event horizons, thermodynamics, and particle creation, phys. rev. d 15 , 2738 (1977) – published 15 may 1977, 2,185 citations, action integrals and partition functions in quantum gravity, phys. rev. d 15 , 2752 (1977) – published 15 may 1977, 110 citations, quantum gravity and path integrals, phys. rev. d 18 , 1747 (1978) – published 15 september 1978, 394 citations, bubble collisions in the very early universe, s. w. hawking, i. g. moss, and j. m. stewart, phys. rev. d 26 , 2681 (1982) – published 15 november 1982, milestone 1,974 citations, wave function of the universe, phys. rev. d 28 , 2960 (1983) – published 15 december 1983, 468 citations, origin of structure in the universe, j. j. halliwell and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 31 , 1777 (1985) – published 15 april 1985, 134 citations, arrow of time in cosmology, phys. rev. d 32 , 2489 (1985) – published 15 november 1985, 300 citations, wormholes in spacetime, phys. rev. d 37 , 904 (1988) – published 15 february 1988, 113 citations, spectrum of wormholes, s. w. hawking and don n. page, phys. rev. d 42 , 2655 (1990) – published 15 october 1990, 16 citations, wormholes in string theory, alex lyons and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 44 , 3802 (1991) – published 15 december 1991, 506 citations, chronology protection conjecture, phys. rev. d 46 , 603 (1992) – published 15 july 1992, 89 citations, evaporation of two-dimensional black holes, phys. rev. lett. 69 , 406 (1992) – published 20 july 1992, 36 citations, kinks and topology change, phys. rev. lett. 69 , 1719 (1992) – published 21 september 1992, 51 citations, origin of time asymmetry, s. w. hawking, r. laflamme, and g. w. lyons, phys. rev. d 47 , 5342 (1993) – published 15 june 1993, 7 citations, quantum coherence in two dimensions, s. w. hawking and j. d. hayward, phys. rev. d 49 , 5252 (1994) – published 15 may 1994, 5 citations, superscattering matrix for two-dimensional black holes, phys. rev. d 50 , 3982 (1994) – published 15 september 1994, 305 citations, entropy, area, and black hole pairs, s. w. hawking, gary t. horowitz, and simon f. ross, phys. rev. d 51 , 4302 (1995) – published 15 april 1995, 71 citations, pair production of black holes on cosmic strings, s. w. hawking and simon f. ross, phys. rev. lett. 75 , 3382 (1995) – published 6 november 1995, 69 citations, probability for primordial black holes, r. bousso and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 52 , 5659 (1995) – published 15 november 1995, 39 citations, quantum coherence and closed timelike curves, phys. rev. d 52 , 5681 (1995) – published 15 november 1995, 157 citations, duality between electric and magnetic black holes, phys. rev. d 52 , 5865 (1995) – published 15 november 1995, 74 citations, virtual black holes, phys. rev. d 53 , 3099 (1996) – published 15 march 1996, 176 citations, pair creation of black holes during inflation, raphael bousso and stephen w. hawking, phys. rev. d 54 , 6312 (1996) – published 15 november 1996, 17 citations, evolution of near-extremal black holes, s. w. hawking and m. m. taylor-robinson, phys. rev. d 55 , 7680 (1997) – published 15 june 1997, 26 citations, loss of quantum coherence through scattering off virtual black holes, phys. rev. d 56 , 6403 (1997) – published 15 november 1997, 59 citations, trace anomaly of dilaton-coupled scalars in two dimensions, raphael bousso and stephen hawking, phys. rev. d 56 , 7788 (1997) – published 15 december 1997, 25 citations, models for chronology selection, m. j. cassidy and s. w. hawking, phys. rev. d 57 , 2372 (1998) – published 15 february 1998, 136 citations, (anti-)evaporation of schwarzschild–de sitter black holes, phys. rev. d 57 , 2436 (1998) – published 15 february 1998, 18 citations, bulk charges in eleven dimensions, phys. rev. d 58 , 025006 (1998) – published 12 june 1998, 15 citations, inflation, singular instantons, and eleven dimensional cosmology, s. w. hawking and harvey s. reall, phys. rev. d 59 , 023502 (1998) – published 7 december 1998, 114 citations, gravitational entropy and global structure, s. w. hawking and c. j. hunter, phys. rev. d 59 , 044025 (1999) – published 26 january 1999, 164 citations, nut charge, anti–de sitter space, and entropy, s. w. hawking, c. j. hunter, and don n. page, phys. rev. d 59 , 044033 (1999) – published 28 january 1999, 416 citations, rotation and the ads-cft correspondence, s. w. hawking, c. j. hunter, and m. m. taylor-robinson, phys. rev. d 59 , 064005 (1999) – published 1 february 1999, 23 citations, lorentzian condition in quantum gravity, phys. rev. d 59 , 103501 (1999) – published 29 march 1999, 166 citations, charged and rotating ads black holes and their cft duals, s. w. hawking and h. s. reall, phys. rev. d 61 , 024014 (1999) – published 20 december 1999, 358 citations, brane-world black holes, a. chamblin, s. w. hawking, and h. s. reall, phys. rev. d 61 , 065007 (2000) – published 25 february 2000, 198 citations, brane new world, s. w. hawking, t. hertog, and h. s. reall, phys. rev. d 62 , 043501 (2000) – published 29 june 2000, 53 citations, gravitational waves in open de sitter space, s. w. hawking, thomas hertog, and neil turok, phys. rev. d 62 , 063502 (2000) – published 31 july 2000, 130 citations, trace anomaly driven inflation, phys. rev. d 63 , 083504 (2001) – published 5 march 2001, 202 citations, living with ghosts, s. w. hawking and thomas hertog, phys. rev. d 65 , 103515 (2002) – published 9 may 2002, 28 citations, why does inflation start at the top of the hill, phys. rev. d 66 , 123509 (2002) – published 20 december 2002, 275 citations, information loss in black holes, phys. rev. d 72 , 084013 (2005) – published 18 october 2005, 46 citations, populating the landscape: a top-down approach, phys. rev. d 73 , 123527 (2006) – published 23 june 2006, no-boundary measure of the universe, james b. hartle, s. w. hawking, and thomas hertog, phys. rev. lett. 100 , 201301 (2008) – published 23 may 2008, 120 citations, classical universes of the no-boundary quantum state, phys. rev. d 77 , 123537 (2008) – published 25 june 2008, 33 citations, no-boundary measure in the regime of eternal inflation, james hartle, s. w. hawking, and thomas hertog, phys. rev. d 82 , 063510 (2010) – published 8 september 2010, 35 citations, local observation in eternal inflation, phys. rev. lett. 106 , 141302 (2011) – published 8 april 2011, featured in physics editors' suggestion 511 citations, soft hair on black holes, stephen w. hawking, malcolm j. perry, and andrew strominger, phys. rev. lett. 116 , 231301 (2016) – published 6 june 2016.

A black hole may carry “soft hair,” low-energy quantum excitations that release information when the black hole evaporates.

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Read 55 of Stephen Hawking’s Research Papers for Free

Read Hawking's takes on black holes and string theory.

Over the course of his life, famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote dozens of papers that explored the mysteries of time and space. From his 1966 thesis onward, he helped revolutionize the field of astrophysics and define what we know about the universe by diving into topics like string theory, black holes, and the Big Bang .

In the wake of his death last week, the American Physical Society (APS) has released 55 of his studies to “mark the passing of Stephen Hawking.” You can read them here . To fully understand the gravity of what’s going on here, you may want to brush up on your physics: There’s a reason Hawking is considered one of our preeminent geniuses. A huge number of them deal with wormholes and black holes , including this banger on black hole “soft hair,” or zero-energy particles that store information from the stars black holes gobble up.

Hawking helped confirm that black holes are birthed when a star collapses.

These 55 papers are found in the journals Physical Review D and Physical Review Letters , which are published by the APS. These studies, published from 1965 to 2016, the APS states on its site, “probe the edges of space and time.” The first paper published here, “Occurrence of Singularities in Open Universes,” was written a year before his infamous 1966 thesis on expanding universes and marks the start of his work that deals with the universe beginning from a singularity .

Some of the papers also are also an exercise in some fanciful titling by Hawking and his coauthors, including “ Brane New World ” and “ Living With Ghosts .” The latter deals with how gravitational dimensions affect ghost states — which are unphysical states on the wrong side of the kinetic term , and not actually ghosts .

When you’re done with the classics, you can move on over to a new hit titled “A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation?” This final paper from Hawking, co-authored with theoretical physicist Thomas Hertog, Ph.D., was submitted two weeks before Hawking’s death and currently exists in its preprint form .

While it doesn’t exactly predict the end of the universe, (something Hawking liked to discuss on in his free time), it does propose a new way to detect the ‘multiverse’: a mathematical road other scientists can explore, ensuring Hawking’s work lives on in the future.

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