World renowned scientist Stephen Hawking was born as Stephen William Hawking,
CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA. He is a British theoretical physicist. Stephen Hawking was
born on 8 January 1942. Stephen Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity,
especially in the context of black holes, and his popular works in which he discusses
his own theories and cosmology in general. These include the runaway popular science
bestseller A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestseller
list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.
Stephen Hawking's key scientific works to date have included providing, with
Roger Penrose, theorems regarding singularities in the framework of general
relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation,
which is today known as Hawking radiation, or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking
radiation. Stephen Hawking's scientific career spans more than 40 years and
his books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity and world-renowned
theoretical physicist. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Stephen Hawking is disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The illness
has progressed over the years and he is now almost completely paralyzed.
Stephen was born on a family comprising of parents namely Frank Hawking (father) a research biologist, and Isobel Hawking (mother). He had two younger sisters,namely Philippa and Mary, and also an adopted brother called Edward. Although Hawking’s parents had their home in North London, they had shifted to Oxford. At Isobel was expecting. The family had the desire of going to a safer location for the birth of their first child since London was under attack at the time by the Luftwaffe. After the birth of Stephen Hawking , the family returned London, where his father became the head of the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research.
In the year 1950, Hawking and his family shifted to St Albans in Hertfordshire where he took admission to St Albans High School for Girls between 1950 to 1953. Unlike today, boys were educated at that time at the Girls school until the age of 10. From the age of 11, Stephen went to St Albans School, where he was a good, but not a very brilliant student. He maintains his connection with the school, giving his name to one of the four houses and to an extracurricular science lecture series. He has also delivered one of the lectures and has also granted a long interview to pupils who are working on the school magazine,titled the Albanian.
Since childhood Stephens has developed liking for the science. He even get himself enrolled at University College, Oxford with the prospect of studying mathematics, though his father wished him to go to the field of medicine. His interests during this time were in thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics.
After grabbing a B.A. degree at Oxford University in the year 1962, he has developed interest of studying astronomy. He left Oxford for Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he engaged in the study of theoretical astronomy and cosmology.
After arriving at Cambridge, he developed symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (colloquially known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), a kind of motor neuron disease which would cost him the loss of almost all neuromuscular control. During his first 2 years stay 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 resumed his Ph.D.work. Stephen revealed that he did not see much point in obtaining a doctorate if he was to die soon. Hawking later said that the real turning point was his 1965 marriage to Jane Wilde, a language student. After receiving his doctorate degree Stephen first became a Research Fellow, and later on, became a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College.
Hawking's achievements was far from that of ordinary person. He was elected as one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society in the year 1974, became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the year 1982, and became a Companion of Honour in the year 1989. Hawking is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
During 65th birthday on January 8, 2007, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight of the same year thereby planning a sub-orbital spaceflight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic’s space service. Billionaire Richard Branson pledged to pay all expenses for the flight, costing an estimated Ł100,000. During Stephen Hawking’s zero-gravity flight in a “Vomit Comet” of Zero Gravity Corporation, he witnessed weightlessness eight times. It finally took off on April 26, 2007. In this way , Stephen became the first quadriplegic to float free in a weightless state. This was the first time in forty years that he moved freely beyond the confines of his wheelchair. The fee is normally $3,750 for 10-15 plunges. However Hawking did not have to pay any fee.
Needless to say his contribution in the field of scientific research still remains unparalleled. Hawking’s principal fields of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity.Among Hawking’s many other scientific investigations, included are the study of: quantum cosmology, cosmic inflation, helium production in anisotropic Big Bang universes, large N cosmology, the density matrix of the universe, topology and structure of the universe, baby universes, Yang-Mills instantons and the S matrix; anti de Sitter space, quantum entanglement and entropy; the nature of space and time, including the arrow of time; spacetime foam, string theory, supergravity, Euclidean quantum gravity, the gravitational Hamiltonian; Brans-Dicke and Hoyle-Narlikar theories of gravitation; gravitational radiation, and wormholes.
Hawking came in the news headlines on July 2004 when he presented a new theory about black holes which goes against his own belief about their behavior.
