A Brief History of Stephen Hawking
EARLY LIFE
Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England, into a family of physicians. He was an English theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, and author who did a lot of work in science and Mathematics. Even he works as a Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. His father-Frank Hawking was a Research Biologist; his mother-Isobel Hawking was a Medical Research Secretary. Both parents were graduates of the University of Oxford. Stephen Hawking married Jane Wilde in 1965, and they had three children: Lucy, Robert and Tim. Unfortunately, they got separated in 1991.
EDUCATION
Stephen was an average student at school, being interested in science. After winning a scholarship at age 17, he began his university education, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics. Hawking obtained his Ph.D. in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specializing in general relativity and cosmology. He enjoyed participating in the school’s boat club and classical music.
BATTLE WITH ALS
While he was working on his Ph.D. at Cambridge, he was diagnosed with a disease called ALS (called Lou Gehrig’s disease). Doctor told him he had a few years to live at that time. Although he was depressed over his disease, he then decided that there were things that he wanted to accomplish with his life. Before dying, he tried to get his Ph.D., so he began to study and work harder than ever before. He lived an entire and productive life with the help of science and modern medicine. Although he was interned in a wheelchair and could not talk for much of his life, he could communicate using a voice synthesizer and touchpad computer.
NOTABLE WORKS
Few of the notable works done by Stephen Hawking includes: -
1. Singularities (1970): -Stephen Hawking did path-breaking work on singularities and applied it to the whole universe. He said it is used for the entire universe. He said that Einstein’s theory predicted a singularity which was the big band theory.
2. Laws of Black Hole Mechanics (1971–72): -He discovered the laws of black hole mechanics. His 1st law, known as Hawking’s area theorem, states that the black hole’s total area will never get smaller. Another law states that black holes are hot, contradicting classical physics. Another law is the “no hair” theorem of black holes, which states that a black hole can be characterized by 3 numbers; mass, angular momentum and charge.
3. Cosmic Inflation Theory (1982): -this theory was introduced by Alan Guth in 1980 in physical cosmology. Further, Hawking was the first who calculate quantum fluctuations, which means the slight variation in the distribution of matter and shows that inflation might give rise to the spread of galaxies in the universe.
4. Model on Wave Function of the Universe (1983): -This theory states that times didn’t exist before the big bang explosion, and hence the concept of a beginning of the universe is meaningless.
5. Top-Down Theory on Cosmology (2006): -This theory states that the universes had not one unique initial state but consisted of a superposition of many possible initial conditions.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Hawking received numerous awards and honors. His significant contributions were to the field of general relativity. As a result, he received several awards, such as the Adams Prize (1966), Eddington medal (1975), Maxwell medal (1976), Presidential medal of freedom (2009), Albert Einstein medal (1979), and many more. He was also elected as a fellow of the Royal Society. In addition, he received the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to science and British culture.
DEATH
Hawking died at his home in Cambridge, England, on 14th march 2018, at 76. However, he did not allow his physical limitation to hinder his quest to answer “the big question: Where did the universe come from?”
His last words came in the form of a book that was completed by his family after his death.
“THERE IS NO GOD. NO ONE DIRECTS THE UNIVERSE.”
