Stephen Hawking-Biography

Birth and Early life

Stephen William Hawking was born on january 8th 1942 in oxford,london,which is exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo. From a very early age Hawking showed the qualities of a scientist, he was always inquisitive. He liked to build models to see how things worked.He is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books have made him an academic celebrity.He is probably one of the most famous cosmologists and theoretical physicists alive.

School

Hawking went to the High School for Girls (yes, the school was supposed to be for girls) at St. Albans at the age of 8. Later, he switched to St. Albans School by passing the eleven-plus examination. Hawking was a keen child, but he was not the brightest in his competitive A stream class. Some of his classmates did not believe he could do well, though they gave him the nickname of Einstein.

College Life

Hawking's father who was a doctor, wanted him to study medicine at Oxford. However, he was more interested in Mathematics. It turned out that he studied Physics, as the University College did not provide degree studies in Mathematics

At the age of 20, Hawking went on to do research in Cosmology at Cambridge. This was also about the time when he was diagnosed with the incurable disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). He slowly lost control of his muscles and was told would die within a few years. At first, Hawking was shocked and upset. He could not find a reason for living before he met his wife Jane Wilde. Later the progress of his illness slowed down, and he finished his Ph.D.

What made stephen hawking so famous?

Hawking is an example of the "cult of personality".
He was a brilliant young man, but it was his handicap that drew so many people to his side. It just seems amazing (to people who aren't handicapped) that he could accomplish ANYTHING with the constraints of his disease.

Hawking basically set out to prove that energy in the Universe could be created or destroyed, which flies in the face of everything we know. A few years ago, he modified his position, saying that the energy actually comes from or disappears into parallel universes.

His work in astrophysics has resulted in several breakthroughs in our knowledge of the universe, most notably his work on black holes

He grew to fame by writing "A Brief History of Time".

In 2009 stephen hawking was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Stephen Hawking's thoughts on afterlife

According to Stephen hawking:"There is no heaven,it's a fairy story".A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death-stephen hawking said.

He rejected the idea of life beyond death and emphasised, what he described as the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives.

His works/books:-

A Brief History of Time
 Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
 The Universe in a Nutshell
 On The Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy
 A Briefer History of Time,
 The Grand Design