Stephen W. Hawking

When a little child thinks about a hero, they probably think about a guy with a cape flying around saving people. Later in life they come to realize that there is more to a hero than a cape and a cool looking costume. A hero can be an every day kind of person, that doesn’t have super powers, or a cool cape. When I think of the word hero, I think of someone who has overcome a challenge, or someone who stands up for their rights. Yeah, sure a hero is known for saving people too, but the greatest kind of hero in my eyes is someone who has had to work very hard to overcome a challenge, a hero within.

Stephen William Hawking is pretty much the definition of a "hero within" according to author T.A. Barron’s book The Hero’s Trail. He has had to overcome a great challenge and he is also one of the smartest scientists ever.

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England. Stephen had a normal life up until the early 1960’s when he got motor neuron disease and was told he had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. This didn’t stop him from getting his B.A. from Oxford in 1962. He has accomplished many things while overcoming this great setback, such as getting his Ph. D in Cosmology, and holding the chair of the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, the same chair that was once held by Isaac Newton.

Stephen Hawking on Simpsons (http://www.jmcsweeney.freeserve.co.uk/misc/images/simpsons.jpg)

Stephen Hawking has come up with many theories, such as: if general relativity is true and the universe is expanding, a singularity must have occurred at the birth of the universe. Stephen also wrote a book called A Brief History of Time. That book spent more than four years on the bestseller list of the London Sunday Times, the record for the longest book on a bestseller list.

Stephen Hawking is a "hero within". The definition of a "hero within" in T.A. Barron’s book The Hero’s Trail is a person who has faced a challenge such as going blind, or in Stephen Hawking’s case losing movement of most of his body, and triumphed. Stephen fits into the category of a hero within because he didn’t give up after all he went through, he just kept living as normal of a life as he could. He shouldn’t be referred to as normal though, he should be known as a hero.

Stephen Hawking (http://www.stephen-hawking.com/s_hawking.jpg)

When you think of a hero, remember that there are more to heroes than strong muscles, or a cool costume with a big red cape. Think of anyone who has done something to overcome a challenge or anyone who has done something to help someone else overcome a challenge. Yes, the description of a hero does sound a little bit vague, but that is only because there are so many different types of heroes. So from a little child, to a teenager, to an adult, you are never too old to have a hero.