Stephen William Hawking:
Stephen William Hawking was born on January 1942 in
Oxford. Stephen’s father was a physician and specialist in tropical diseases and his mother Isabel was active in the Liberal Party. The most important event of his life occurred on December 31, 1962. He met his future wife, Jane Wilde, at a New Year’s Eve party. One month later, he was diagnosed with a terrible disease, ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. When he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
and the prognosis of death within two years.
Today, Stephen Hawking is still alive and one of the most prominent astrophysics.At that time Hawking himself has said that “what really made a difference was that I got engaged to a woman named Jane Wilde. This gave me something to live for.” They married in July of 1965. He went on to have three children with Jane, and now has one grandchild. Hawking’s two sons,
Due to the gradual loss of control of his body, Hawking has had plenty of time to adapt to
his situation.
However, this gradual loss of functionality brought a face of uncertainly to
his life. Walking would become increasingly difficult, leading to the need of a
wheelchair, arms and hands became weaker, so, eating and writing would become
challenging.
Speaking and swallowing also would become labored. Finally, the only
muscles that are left untouched are heart and muscles involved in digestion and waste
elimination, and the sexual organs, with a fully functional brain. Despite the fatal
prospect of this disease and the loss of functionality of his legs he got married in 1965.
The first assistive technology, Stephen Hawking used was a wheelchair. After he
caught pneumonia from one of his business trips, he could no longer communicate
(through speaking or writing). He described that he was literally trapped in his mind.
The only way he could communicate was through use of his eyebrows when someone
pointed to the correct letter on alphabet card. Walt Woltsoz, computer expert, provided
Stephen with a communication program which he had developed in order to assist his
disabled mother-in-law. The program had a built-in speech synthesizer. The original
device had electrodes attached to his head to enable him to select words displayed on a
computer screen. However, one of Hawking’s students adapted the device to a handheld
controller, similar to a computer mouse, allowing him to click on words and phrases to
compose sentences. For the first time after a very long time, Stephen Hawking was able
to write and speak without a help of another human being. Stephen’s nurse’s husband, a
computer engineer, was able to mount a computer screen, and speech synthesize to his
electric wheelchair, allowing him to communicate without being chained to a desk.
Important Works of Stephen Hawking:
Hawking has made his reputation by investigating, in great detail, one particular set of problems: the singularity and horizons around black holes and at the beginning of time. Now, everyone is sure if you encountered a black hole, it would be the last thing you ever encountered–and that is correct! A black hole is a massive system so centrally condensed that the force of gravity prevents everything within it, even light, from escaping.
Hawking’s first major work was published with Roger Penrose, a physicist very famous in his own right, and George Ellis, during the period 1968-1970. They demonstrated that every solution to the equations of general relativity guarantees the existence of a singular boundary for space and time in the past. This is now known as the “singularity theorem,” and is a tremendously important finding.
Later, working by himself, in 1974, he began to formulate ideas about the quantum evaporation of exploding black holes, the now famous “Hawking radiation.” These are all tremendously important scientific works.
In 1984 Stephen worked with James Hartle, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Using an elegant vacuum fluctuation model, they were able to provide a mathematical rationalization for the entire universe popping into existence at the beginning of time. This is also called the “universe as a wave function.” I need to emphasize that they were using very simple models. Now, while such mathematical exercises are highly speculative, they may eventually lead us to a deeper understanding of this creation event.
Notable Awards:
Adams Prize (1966)
FRS (1974)[15]
Eddington Medal (1975)
Maxwell Medal and Prize (1976)
Heineman Prize (1976)
Hughes Medal (1976)
Albert Einstein Award (1978)
CBE (1982)
RAS Gold Medal (1985)
Dirac Medal (1987)
Wolf Prize (1988)
CH (1989)
Prince of Asturias Award (1989)
Andrew Gemant Award (1998)
Naylor Prize and Lectureship (1999)
Lilienfeld Prize (1999)
Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts) (1999)
Copley Medal (2006)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Fundamental Physics Prize (2012)
FRSA
Stephen William Hawking was born on January 1942 in
Oxford. Stephen’s father was a physician and specialist in tropical diseases and his mother Isabel was active in the Liberal Party. The most important event of his life occurred on December 31, 1962. He met his future wife, Jane Wilde, at a New Year’s Eve party. One month later, he was diagnosed with a terrible disease, ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. When he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
and the prognosis of death within two years.
Today, Stephen Hawking is still alive and one of the most prominent astrophysics.At that time Hawking himself has said that “what really made a difference was that I got engaged to a woman named Jane Wilde. This gave me something to live for.” They married in July of 1965. He went on to have three children with Jane, and now has one grandchild. Hawking’s two sons,
Due to the gradual loss of control of his body, Hawking has had plenty of time to adapt to
his situation.
However, this gradual loss of functionality brought a face of uncertainly to
his life. Walking would become increasingly difficult, leading to the need of a
wheelchair, arms and hands became weaker, so, eating and writing would become
challenging.
Speaking and swallowing also would become labored. Finally, the only
muscles that are left untouched are heart and muscles involved in digestion and waste
elimination, and the sexual organs, with a fully functional brain. Despite the fatal
prospect of this disease and the loss of functionality of his legs he got married in 1965.
The first assistive technology, Stephen Hawking used was a wheelchair. After he
caught pneumonia from one of his business trips, he could no longer communicate
(through speaking or writing). He described that he was literally trapped in his mind.
The only way he could communicate was through use of his eyebrows when someone
pointed to the correct letter on alphabet card. Walt Woltsoz, computer expert, provided
Stephen with a communication program which he had developed in order to assist his
disabled mother-in-law. The program had a built-in speech synthesizer. The original
device had electrodes attached to his head to enable him to select words displayed on a
computer screen. However, one of Hawking’s students adapted the device to a handheld
controller, similar to a computer mouse, allowing him to click on words and phrases to
compose sentences. For the first time after a very long time, Stephen Hawking was able
to write and speak without a help of another human being. Stephen’s nurse’s husband, a
computer engineer, was able to mount a computer screen, and speech synthesize to his
electric wheelchair, allowing him to communicate without being chained to a desk.
Important Works of Stephen Hawking:
Hawking has made his reputation by investigating, in great detail, one particular set of problems: the singularity and horizons around black holes and at the beginning of time. Now, everyone is sure if you encountered a black hole, it would be the last thing you ever encountered–and that is correct! A black hole is a massive system so centrally condensed that the force of gravity prevents everything within it, even light, from escaping.
Hawking’s first major work was published with Roger Penrose, a physicist very famous in his own right, and George Ellis, during the period 1968-1970. They demonstrated that every solution to the equations of general relativity guarantees the existence of a singular boundary for space and time in the past. This is now known as the “singularity theorem,” and is a tremendously important finding.
Later, working by himself, in 1974, he began to formulate ideas about the quantum evaporation of exploding black holes, the now famous “Hawking radiation.” These are all tremendously important scientific works.
In 1984 Stephen worked with James Hartle, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Using an elegant vacuum fluctuation model, they were able to provide a mathematical rationalization for the entire universe popping into existence at the beginning of time. This is also called the “universe as a wave function.” I need to emphasize that they were using very simple models. Now, while such mathematical exercises are highly speculative, they may eventually lead us to a deeper understanding of this creation event.
Notable Awards:
Adams Prize (1966)
FRS (1974)[15]
Eddington Medal (1975)
Maxwell Medal and Prize (1976)
Heineman Prize (1976)
Hughes Medal (1976)
Albert Einstein Award (1978)
CBE (1982)
RAS Gold Medal (1985)
Dirac Medal (1987)
Wolf Prize (1988)
CH (1989)
Prince of Asturias Award (1989)
Andrew Gemant Award (1998)
Naylor Prize and Lectureship (1999)
Lilienfeld Prize (1999)
Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts) (1999)
Copley Medal (2006)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009)
Fundamental Physics Prize (2012)
FRSA
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