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Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking

Net Worth

$20,000,000

Born in (City)

Oxford

Born in (Country)

England

Date of Birth

08th December, 1942

Date of Death

14th December, 2018

Mother

Isobel Hawking

Father

Frank Hawking

Children

  • Timothy Hawking
  • Robert Hawking
  • Lucy Hawking

About

Stephen William Hawking well known for his theories was born on 8th January 1942 in Oxford, United Kingdom in a family of doctors. He was a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. He even served as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between the period 1979 and 2009. Nevertheless, he was also a director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death. He died on 14 March 2018 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, at the age of 76, after living with motor neuron disease for years. Stephen Hawking stands as one of the greatest inspirations as he left no stone unturned in his path to success as a scientist, a writer, and a professor even with suffering.

Early Life

Stephen was interested and enjoyed solving mathematics and learning science in school, he even earned the nickname of "Einstein" there because of his curiosity and creativity with solving numerical. But at that period Oxford did not have a degree in Mathematics. In October 1959, at the age of 17, Stephen began with his higher education at University College, Oxford, where he received his Bachelor of Arts (BA. Hons) degree in Physics, qualifying with distinction. After graduating, in October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. By March 1966, he not only finished his Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics but also specialized in general relativity and cosmology. Stephen Hawking’s life changed in 1963 when he met a girl named Jane Wilde, at a New Year’s Eve party. That girl turned out to be Hawking’s life partner. Within two years of meeting Jane Wilde, the couple were married and started their family. They had three children, Robert, Lucy, and Timothy. However, it did not last. In 1990, Stephen moved out and five years later they were divorced. Months after the divorce he fell in love with his nurse, Elaine Mason, and later they were married.

Road to Success

There is notable work that Hawking has presented the world with. One of those even includes a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. He developed this theory on black holes while getting into bed one night in 1970. However, one day his student, Bekenstein who was inspired by Hawking’s own eccentric style of thinking challenged Hawking's paper theory. This interplay between professor and student was part of what made Hawking took everyone’s ideas seriously and so did he again. He worked tirelessly to prove the theorem. So, in 1974 when Hawking realized that his student was right, the physics community was as amazed as he was. He theorized some things can escape a black hole before crossing the event horizon–specifically subatomic particles like protons and neutrons. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a fusion of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. His works consists of Hawking energy, Hawking-Page phase transition, Gibbons–Hawking ansatz, Gibbons–Hawking effect, Gibbons–Hawking space, and many others relating to Cosmo and physics. Hawking has been considered as the epitome of perseverance, passion, dedication, and commitment by many scientists from all over the world. He made business progress with a few of his works of famous science theories on books in which he talked about his hypotheses and cosmology when all was said and done. His book "A Brief History of Time" began to achieve worldwide fame after the publication. Not only that, his book even appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

Challenges

His daughter, Lucy, in 2000 filed an investigation regarding the bruises and scars he had. There were accusations and allegations against Mason which were denied by Stephen and his assistant. After 11 years of their marriage, Mason filed for divorce in 2006. It would not be wrong if we say that Stephen’s personal life was as complicated as some of his theories. Stephen’s journey was complicated from the beginning. During his one of college years while he was studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge, in 1963, when Hawking was 21, Stephen’s father noticed unusual and continuous tripping and falling of his son. He sent Stephen for a couple of clinical testing, where he was diagnosed with an early-onset yet the slow-progressing form of motor neuron disease also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or even as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the doctors even estimated that he had a limited time around about two and half years left to live. But he lived longer than that to write the history. However, ALS caused nerve cells in the brain to weaken. When these neurons died, his brain could no longer control muscle movement, and eventually, over the years his body was paralyzed. After losing the ability to speak, he started communicating through a speech-generating device which was initially used with a handheld switch which eventually developed into easy use of using a single cheek muscle. Yet he never gave up.

Failures

He claimed to have solutions to problems that fell apart on a cursory glance; he proclaimed doomsday for humanity repeatedly with no evidence to back such claims up; he ignored the good work done by others in his own field. And much to the chagrin of other scientists, Stephen Hawking would have grandiose claims of humanity surviving alien species much like that of ants surviving humanity, with no evidence behind the presence of external life yet was an opinion that was disregarded.

Achievements

Hawking became a 'Commander of the Order of the British Empire' in 1982.|He was honored with many prestigious awards like 'the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,' 'the Paul Dirac Medal,' etc.|Other notable honors bestowed upon Hawking include 'the Wolf Prize,' 'Companion of Honor by Her Highness,' 'Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize,' 'the Copley Medal,' 'the Presidential Medal of Freedom,' 'the Russian Fundamental Physics Prize,' and many more

Quotes

  • I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.
  • Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
  • People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.
  • To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.