Stephen Hawking

by Sofia Blasini

Stephen W. Hawking is a notable theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and researcher at the University of Cambridge. His contributions to modern physics have led to theories on quantum mechanics and relativity, as well as widespread public recognition due to his inspirational life story. Multiple movies portray his work and life as one of the world's greatest scientist to have lived.

Personal life

Early life

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942-- coincidentally 300 years after the death of Galileo-- in Oxford, England. His parents, Frank and Isobel Hawking, lived in north London but were forced to have Stephen in Oxford since it was the safest place during World War II. Frank and Isobel's economical constraints did not impede them from studying medicine and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, respectively, at the University of Oxford, where they met at a medical research institute. Isobel gave birth to Hawking's two younger sisters (Philippa and Mary) and adopted Hawking's brother Edward.

When Hawking was eight years old, his family moved to St. Albans-- a town north of London. Hawking went to St. Albans School when he was eleven years old. The Hawking family was considered very intelligent and eccentric and lived in a poorly maintained house. Hawking later attended University College, Oxford. Hawking wanted to pursue a degree in Mathematics whereas his father wanted him to study medicine as he did; however, Hawking opted to study Physics as a Mathematics major was unavailable. He achieved first class honors degree in Natural Science after three relaxed years in University College.

Disability

Hawking first noticed problems with his health while he was at Oxford. He would constantly trip and slur his speech. However, he did not check the problem until 1963 while at Cambridge when he was just 21 years old. His father, noticing his symptoms, took him to the doctor, and Hawking spent two weeks undergoing medical tests in the clinic. The doctors finally diagnosed Hawking with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The doctor's told Hawking he was expected to live for about two and a half years more.

Although this was devastating news for Hawking and his family, he was cheered up by a couple of events. The first of these was having a boy with leukemia as his roommate in the hospital. Hawking felt his disease was more tolerable than his roommate's. Secondly, Hawking dreamed that he was going to be executed, which made him realize that he still had things to complete in his life.

One of the most significant parts of his life was meeting his future wife, Jane Wilde, in a New Year's party in 1963 shortly after being diagnosed with ALS. His love for her changed his life, and he later married Jane in 1965. Moreover, Hawking's ALS diagnosis propelled him to become the incredibly renown scientist he is today. Hawking claims he "there had not seemed to be anything worth doing" before his condition as he was "very bored with life." However, realizing that he had a time clock for his life, he immersed himself into his work and research.

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Further reading

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External links

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References

http://www.hawking.org.uk/about-stephen.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking#Bibliography

http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710#early-life