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Stephen Hawking: Life and Achievements

Stephen Hawking was a renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was born in Oxford, England in 1942 and went on to study physics at Oxford University and later did research at Cambridge University. Some of Hawking's most notable contributions include showing that Einstein's general theory of relativity implied the universe had a beginning and could have an end, and discovering that black holes should emit radiation and eventually evaporate. Despite being diagnosed with ALS at a young age, Hawking continued his groundbreaking work in physics and became one of the most influential scientists in history. He authored several popular science books that helped spread interest in physics concepts.

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177 views2 pages

Stephen Hawking: Life and Achievements

Stephen Hawking was a renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was born in Oxford, England in 1942 and went on to study physics at Oxford University and later did research at Cambridge University. Some of Hawking's most notable contributions include showing that Einstein's general theory of relativity implied the universe had a beginning and could have an end, and discovering that black holes should emit radiation and eventually evaporate. Despite being diagnosed with ALS at a young age, Hawking continued his groundbreaking work in physics and became one of the most influential scientists in history. He authored several popular science books that helped spread interest in physics concepts.

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V SATYA KISHORE
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Stephen William Hawking

Professor Stephen William Hawking was born on 8th January 1942 (exactly 300 years after the
death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London but during the
second world war Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight his
family moved to St. Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At the age of eleven,
Stephen went to St. Albans School and then on to University College, Oxford (1952); his father's
old college. Stephen wanted to study mathematics although his father would have preferred
medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he pursued physics instead.
After three years and not very much work, he was awarded a first class honours degree in natural
science. 

In October 1962, Stephen arrived at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical


Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge to do research in cosmology, there being no-
one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Dennis Sciama, although he
had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his PhD (1965) with
his thesis titled 'Properties of Expanding Universes', he became, first, a research fellow (1965)
then Fellow for Distinction in Science (1969) at Gonville & Caius college. In 1966 he won the
Adams Prize for his essay 'Singularities and the Geometry of Space-time'.It was first held by
Isaac Barrow and then in 1669 by Isaac Newton.  From 2009

Professor Stephen Hawking worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger
Penrose he showed that Einstein's general theory of relativity implied space and time would have
a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes (1970). These results indicated that it was
necessary to unify general relativity with quantum theory, the other great scientific development
of the first half of the 20th century. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered
was that black holes should not be completely black, but rather should emit 'Hawking' radiation
and eventually evaporate and disappear (1974). Another conjecture is that the universe has no
edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was
completely determined by the laws of science. Towards the end of his life, Stephen was working
with colleagues on a possible resolution to the black hole information paradox, where debate
centres around the conservation of information.

His many publications included The Large Scale Structure of Space time with G F R
Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W Israel, and 300 Years of
Gravitation, with W Israel. Among the popular books Stephen Hawking published are his best
seller A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, the Universe

in a Nutshell, The Grand Design and My Brief History. 

Professor Stephen Hawking received thirteen honorary degrees. He was awarded CBE (1982),
Companion of Honour (1989) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009). He was the
recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, most notably the Fundamental Physics prize
(2013), Copley Medal (2006) and the Wolf Foundation prize (1988). He was a Fellow of the
Royal Society and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences. 

In 1963 Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his
21st birthday. In spite of being wheelchair-bound and dependent on a computerized voice system
for communication Stephen continued to combine family life (he has three children and three
grandchildren) with his research into theoretical physics, in addition to an extensive programme
of travel and public lectures. Thanks to the Zero-G Corporation, he experienced weightlessness
in 2007 and always hoped to make it into space one day.

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