1. Stephen
Hawking was born in Oxford, England on January 8, 1942. He grew up in a highly educated family. Both of his parents
had attended Oxford University and his father, Frank, was a medical researcher.
The Hawkings, as one close family friend described them, were an
"eccentric" bunch. Dinner was often eaten in silence, each of the
Hawkings intently reading a book.
Early
in his academic life, Hawking, while recognized as bright, was not an
exceptional student.
During his first year at St. Albans School, he was third from the bottom of his
class. By his own account, Hawking didn't put much time into his studies. He
would later calculate that he averaged about an hour a day focusing on school.
And yet he didn't really have to do much more than that.
He wanted
to study math at university but Oxford didn't have a math degree at the time so
he chose physics and chemistry instead.
Stephen found college coursework to be very easy. After graduation, he went to
Cambridge to study for his PhD.
2. While Hawking was working on his PhD at Cambridge
University, he began to have health issues. His speech became slurred and he
became very clumsy, often dropping items or falling for no reason. After going through a series of tests,
doctors discovered that Hawking had a disease called ALS (also called Lou
Gehrig's disease). At the time, the doctors said he only had a few years to
live.
Although Hawking was initially depressed over his diagnosis, he decided that there were things he wanted to accomplish with his life. He began to study and work harder than ever before. He wanted to earn his PhD before he died. But the most significant change in his life was the fact that he was in love. He met and fell in love with a girl named Jane Wilde. Between his work and Jane, Hawking had a reason to live.
Although Hawking was initially depressed over his diagnosis, he decided that there were things he wanted to accomplish with his life. He began to study and work harder than ever before. He wanted to earn his PhD before he died. But the most significant change in his life was the fact that he was in love. He met and fell in love with a girl named Jane Wilde. Between his work and Jane, Hawking had a reason to live.
Despite the initial grim diagnosis from his doctors, Hawking
has lived a full and productive life with the help of science and modern
medicine. Although he is confined to a
wheelchair and cannot talk, he can communicate using a touch pad computer and a
voice synthesizer.
3. Stephen spent much of his academic
work researching black holes and space-time theories. He wrote many important papers on the subject and became a
noted expert on relativity and black holes. The radiation from black holes has
become known as Hawking Radiation.
Stephen also enjoyed writing books. In 1988 he published A Brief History in Time. This book covered modern subjects on cosmology such as the big bang and black holes in terms that could be understood by the average reader. The book became very popular selling millions of copies and remaining on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for four years.
Stephen also enjoyed writing books. In 1988 he published A Brief History in Time. This book covered modern subjects on cosmology such as the big bang and black holes in terms that could be understood by the average reader. The book became very popular selling millions of copies and remaining on the London Sunday Times best-seller list for four years.
***
Source:
http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710#als-diagnosis
No comments:
Post a Comment