Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. He was born 300 years after Galileo, the person who discovered that planets orbited the sun in an elliptical orbit.

Stephen’s parents encouraged him to read, and his family would have enthusiast discussions about books, science, and important news. While attending at university he became clumsy, and his parents suggested he see a doctor. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). As ALS progresses, the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain interferes with messages to muscles in the body. Eventually, muscles atrophy and voluntary control of muscles is lost. Despite his illness, he became a theoretical physicist.

He tried to unify the laws that govern the particle world (very small objects) and the laws the govern very large objects. The two theories describe vastly different worlds, and the goal is to create equations that describe both. This led to him publishing his book” The Theory of Everything”. He presented a laymen’s view of our universe, how it began, and how his work showed a different perspective.

One of his more famous research topics was black holes. A black hole is a small and incredible dense body, produced by the collapse of a massive star. The light cannot escape because of the strong gravitation pulls. Scientists thought that nothing can escape a black hole. Hawking showed that black holes do radiate some energy in the form of particles.

He explained in his books that time, space, mass and energy must have begun together. From a tiny dense point of energy, the universe emerged and expanded in seconds. Then, matter was created in the form of particles. Then, the particles came together to form atoms of elements and then molecules and the universe formed.

He had to be in wheelchair and he couldn’t speak. He spoke using a computer that turned his eye movements into a voice. This didn’t slow him down. He remarried and he continued his research. He became a top professor at the university of Cambridge.

His biggest achievement was that he was able to communicate his research to the general public. He was well traveled visiting places such as Antarctica, the ocean floor, and even had time to experience zero gravity. He became a celebrity who spoke on TV, radio shows, and gave public lectures. He even appeared on Star Trek and the Simpsons.

He died at age of 76. We lost a highly successful scientist.