“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you from doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with.” – Stephen Hawking
Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the most recognizable and well-known scientists of the 21st century. His contributions to cosmology and theoretical physics are numerous. As well as being a poster boy of modern science, he is also a recognizable figure for his disability. Soon after beginning his graduate studies at Cambridge in cosmology and general relativity, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a disease that causes the progressive degradation of motor neurons overtime. While he was initially only given a few years to live, the disease progressed slower than expected and he was able to continue his research. While he no doubt suffered due to the progressive nature of ALS, he often credited his disability for allowing him to be so successful in his field. It allowed him time to theorize and ponder the universe while his colleagues were stuck doing administrative work and lecturing.
Early Life
Stephen was born on January 8, 1942 into a family of doctors. He was a bright child from a young age. He never worked hard at school when he was younger, since he was able to quickly grasp the concepts. Rather than spend time on school work, he spent his time taking things apart to see how they worked (but admitted he rarely put them back together). It was this spirit of innate curiosity that allowed him to be so successful in the study of the universe. From a young age he speculated about the nature of reality and the workings of the cosmos. He even earned the nickname “Einstein” from his peers.
Academia
In 1959 at the age of 17 Stephen began his undergraduate studies at Oxford. He wanted to study mathematics, while his father wanted him to study medicine. They met in the middle and Stephen studied Natural Sciences. Much like his primary school days, he found the work to be incredible easy, and did not spend much time studying. He enjoyed the social aspect of university and was on the rowing team. He was known to be a bit of a daredevil on the rowing team and for leading the boat on risky courses, Courses that ended up with a few damaged boats along the way. With only an estimated 1000 hours of study time over 3 years, he graduated with first-class honours in physics in 1962. He began his graduate studies in cosmology and general relativity at Cambridge in October of the same year.
Diagnosis
It was during his undergraduate years that Stephen began noticing himself getting progressively clumsier and would struggle with basic tasks such as tying his shoes. He was sent to the hospital for some tests after a skating accident in1963, where the doctors performed extensive tests. They diagnosed him with an incurable early onset motor neuron disorder, which slowly degrades the muscles and nervous system over time, while leaving the brain intact.
He was initially given only a couple years to live, but the disease progressed much slower than expected. This, along with meeting Jane Wilde, his future wife, gave him hope and helped pull him out of depression, and he threw himself fully into his studies. His brilliance and intellect was recognized, even as his physical capacities diminished. He soon had difficulty walking unsupported, and his speech become unintelligible. Despite this, he completed his PhD and married Jane in 1965. He credited his marriage with giving him the emotional will to live, and thus enabled him to continue his studies and make immense contributions to science. The birth of their children followed: welcoming Robert in1967, Lucy in 1970 and Timothy in 1979.
Contributions to Science
In 1965 he was accepted for a research fellowship in Cambridge at Gonville and Caius College where he remained for the rest of his live, working right up until his death in 2018. One of his first major contributions to science was the idea of singularity, a place in space or time at which some quantity becomes infinite. An example would be a black hole: formed due to a collapsed star, the gravitational force becomes infinity strong, so strong that not even light can escape, earning the apt name “black hole.”
Building on the Theory of Relativity proposed by Albert Einstein, Hawking’s study led to the theorization that the entire universe had its origin in a singularity. Everything in the entire universe was once contained in a extremely concentrated singe-point and the explosion of this single point led to the creation of space and time. Well known and supported as the “Big Bang Theory” now, this was revolutionary at the time and contradicted the “steady-state” hypothesis that put simply: everything always had been, and always will be.
His continued his research on singularities, focusing on black holes, specifically the detectable edges of black holes known as event horizons. His studies of these event horizons led to two major discoveries: the fact that black holes give off heat (it was previously thought nothing was able to escape from the gravitational pull), this radiation was come to be known as ” Hawking’s Radiation’; secondly, regarding the size of black holes; it was originally theorized that black holes were only formed due to collapsed stars, and therefore must be massive in size. However, Hawking concluded the existence of mini-black holes that were present due to the initial force from the Big Bang.
One of his most famous contributions to science was solving one of Einstein’s unanswered theories: the famous unified field theory. Simply put it states that the 4 dimensions that are present in space existed prior to the Big Bang curled up in a spherical arrangement, possessing no boundaries between them. A quantum transition at the instance of the Big Bang gave rise to the universe with three space dimensions and one time dimension that we have today. This was come to be known as the no boundary proposal, and was the first scientific model of the origin of the universe.
Legacy
He continued to study the no-boundary proposal throughout his career and went on to publish numerous books regarding black holes and the universe. These famously include: A Brief History of Time (1988), The Universe in a Nutshell (2001), On The Shoulders of Giants (2002), God Created the Integers (2002) and Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018) to name a few. He also co-wrote a series of children’s science books with his daughter Lucy.
Unfortunately, as his intellectual contributions increased his condition continued to worsen. While on a trip to a science conference in Geneva, he contracted pneumonia and nearly lost his life. A tracheostomy was performed and while it saved his life, it took away his natural speaking voice– which at the time was reduced to a low mumble. After a short period where he was only able to communicate through spelling flash cards and eyebrow movements, he was relieved to began working with computer programmers to develop a computerized communication system and accompanying voice synthesizer. The synthesizer had a flat, robotic voice with an American accent. This of course become Hawking’s signature in pop-culture. The recorded voice is that of Dennis Klatt, and while Hawking had opportunities to “upgrade his voice” over the years, he chose to stick with the original, stating it was the voice of his dear friend. While his voice remained the same over the years, he did upgrade the operating system, which allowed him to express himself more quickly and intuitively. It is this same predictive-word technology that many of us are now familiar with in our cell-phones and use every day as well. However as his condition progressed he eventually he lost the use of his hand, and controlled his speech computer with a single cheek muscle.
In addition to his famous computerized voice, Hawking was also known for his quick-wit and dry humour. This was exasperated by the use of the computer and voice synthesizer as it forced him to learn the art of brevity. It was also this conciseness that allowed him to explain highly complex concepts with plain language, making him a famously adept lecturer. He pre-programmed his lectures and played them in chunks to an audience. In addition, queries were taken in advance so he was able to prepare answers during the question period of the lecture. He travelled the world speaking at conferences and events, and was known to party and stay out dancing late into the night.
Professor Hawking received numerous awards and accolades over the years. Including the Albert Einstein Medal (1979), the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) and the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2013), to name only a few. He has also become a pop-culture phenomenon in his own right, appearing in episodes of: Star Trek, The Simpsons, Futurama and a recurring role on The Big Bang Theory. In addition, a clip of his voice synthesizer appears in the Pink Floyd song “Keep Talking.” Moreover, there was also a movie made about his life fittingly called, The Theory of Everything.
One of his lifelong dreams was to travel into space on a commercial space flight. he was offered a ticket by Richard Branson, but sadly this did not become a reality before his passing. However, he was able to experience zero-gravity by means of a parabolic plane ride, which is used to train astronauts before going into space. They were initially concerned of the health risks associated with flying and the exertion on his paralyzed body. Therefore, had initially planned to only fly one arc, possibly two if things went well. However, It went so smoothly and he was enjoying himself so much that they ended up flying a total of 8 arcs! People close to him say it was the biggest smile they have ever seen on his face and he immensely enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness outside of his wheelchair.
After an incredible life of defying the odds, Mr. Hawking passed away peacefully in his home on March 14, 2018. However, has undoubtedly left an everlasting mark on the world.
Professor Hawking is an icon of modern physics and is credited with inspiring many people to take interest in science. He also became a face for people with disabilities leading full and engaging lives, despite numerous extra challenges. He preferred to be regarded as “a scientist first, popular science writer second, and, in all the ways that matter, a normal human being with the same desires, drives, dreams, and ambitions as the next person.”
“If you feel you are in a black hole, never give up. There is a way out.” – Stephen Hawking
