NAME-Stephen William Hawking

BORN-8 January 1942  (Age 67),

Oxford,England

NATIONALITY-English

FIELDS-Applied Mathematician,

Theoretical Physicist

INFLUENCES-Dikran Tahta

KNOWN FOR-Black Holes,

Quantum Gravity,

Theoretical Cosmology

NOTABLE AWARDS-Prince of Asturias Award(1989),

Copley Medal(2006)

Prof. Stephen William Hawking,CH,CBE,FRS,FRSA is a world renowned British Theoretical Physicist whose scientific career spans over 40 years.Better known as being a patient to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS),his lifetime according to the doctors is uncertain,he may die today or after two years.

Born 300 years after the death of Galileo to Dr.Frank Hawking(a research biologist) and Isobel Hawking(a political activist),he is a brother to two younger sisters,Philippa and Mary and an adopted brother,Edward.He married Jane Wilde in 1965 and  had three children from her-Robert(b.1967),Lucy(b.1969) andTimothy(b.1979).But the relationship lived upto only 1991 and Hawking married his nurse Elaine Mason in 1995.But,in October 2006 this relation also lived its last breathe as Hawking filed a divorce from his second spouse.

Almost as soon as he arrived at the Cambridge after leaving Oxford in the 1962,he started developing symptoms of ALS(known colloquially in the USA as Lou Gehrig’s disease),a type of motor neuron disease which cost him almost all neuromuscular control.During his first two years at Cambridge,he did not distinguish himself,but,after the disease had stabilized and with the help of his doctoral tutor,Dennis William Sciama, he returned to working on his Ph.D. He revealed that he did not see much point in obtaining a Doctorate if he were to die soon.

Hawking’s achievements were made despite the increasing paralysis caused by the ALS. By 1974, he was unable to feed himself or get out of bed. His speech became slurred so that he could only be understood by people who knew him well. In 1985, he caught pneumonia and had to have a  tracheotomy, which made him unable to speak at all. A Cambridge scientist,David Mason,built a device that enabled Hawking to write onto a computer with small movements of his body, and then have a voice synthesizer speak what he has typed.But now Hawking has replaced it with a new and advanced computer developed by Intel scientists.

Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge,a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College,Cambridge and the distinguished research chair at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Science.

He is known for his contribution to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity,especially in the context of black holes.He has also achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general.Hawking’s key scientific works to date have included providing,with Roger Penrose,theorems popularly known as Hawking Radiation(or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking Radiation).

A bit of  a futurist Hawking was quoted before his zero gravity flight(in the Vomit Comet of Zero Gravity Corporation)saying:

“Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons. First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden 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.”

Besides his sci-life, he is also known for his wit,he is famous for his oft-made statement,”When I  hear of Schrödinger’s cat,I reach for my pistol.

Hawking has generally avoided talking about politics at length, but he has appeared on a political broadcast for the United Kingdom’s Labour Party. He supports the children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages UK.

He takes an agnostic position on matters of religion.

“Primitive life is very common and  intelligent life is fairly rare.”,Stephen Hawking

-Ketan Singla