Stephen William Hawking

Stephen William Hawking (www.stephen-hawking.com/)

Born on January 8th, 1942 in Oxford, England, Stephen Hawking has been called "one of the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Einstein." (DISCovering Biography). Stephen is a dedicated scientist, discovering more about the unknown black hole than any other scientist, while battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Much of his career spanned from 1962 to today, publishing approximately three bestselling books on cosmology, and receiving a large amount of awards for his work. Stephen, king of black holes, stirred mysticism of the cosmos in even the most dormant souls. Despite being paralyzed, he strives to make sense of the universe around us.

Stephen is still considered one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, finding incredible discoveries about black holes than any other scientist dared. "Stephen Hawking is arguably the most famous scientists of the second half of the twentieth century" (DISCovering Biographies). When people ask to name a scientist of today, many people answer Stephen Hawking. His work impacted the world many times over, starting with black holes to the theory of everything. His mind is the mind of a genius, yet he is on level ground with everyday people. A quote from Phillip Downey's book Science and It's Times, further gives more information on Hawking's scientific achievements: "Hawking's greatest scientific achievements came in the 1960's and 1970's with the advancment of Albert Einstein's general relativity as it relates to black holes and the Big Bang theory". Stephen's work is based off of Albert Einstein's many equations and theories, refined and tweaked to produce a more powerful equation that has solved many of today's questions about the mysterious singularity where our universe began. Stephen, along with other scientists, were among the first to trace back time to the very beginning and discover the mysterious M-theory, the theory that in the 11th dimension, many different universes float around like bubbles colliding with each other, and one of those collisions happened to create our universe. There are many other things that could be listed under Stephen's name, and all prove how much of a great man of science he is.

Battling with Lou Gehrig's disease has left Stephen paralyzed from head to toe, with the exception of a few face muscles, and the ability to make small finger movements. Yet this man continued his passion of physics and cosmology with unfettered determination, challenging other scientists on their theories, and informing the world of new and exciting things. "Hawking's doctors clearly thought his life expectancy would be toward the short end of the spectrum, and they painted a bleak future for the stunned graduate and his family" (Larsen pg. 19). Nobody thought Stephen was going to live long, with the doctors giving him only two years to live. Not only is Hawking a world record holder for the longest survival of amytrophic lateral sclerosis, but he also published three bestselling books, and risen amongst the popularity charts. "However, while he was lying there feeling sorry for his apparent fate, he watched a young boy die of leukemia in the bed across from him and realized there were people with a harder fate than his" (Larsen pg. 19). Stephen had taken the news of his diagnosis hard, but while watching this boy, he realized that life could be harder than it was now. But still he returned to his studies with little hope, and not much encouragement. His passion rekindled when hearing the work of another scientist and being put under charge of a professor that actually made him work. Stephen decided that life wasn't ending at the moment to give up all hope, and he returned to his work determined. Over time his condition worsened but that still didn't stop him him from solving the cosmic equations of the past and cracking the mysteries of relativity and black holes.

Stephen Hawking has made people think about our surrounding universe, all the while confined to his mobile throne, unmasking the wonders. "Hawking struggles from amytrophic lateral sclerosis which confines him to a wheel chair and requires him to use a voice synthesizer to speak" (DISCovering Biography). Desptie these challenges that bombard him with daily difficulties, he has strived to make the world understand, and to unveil the enticing secrets that our universe holds. As Phillip Downey has said in his publication of Science and It's Times, "His work on black holes, his bestselling A Brief History of Time, and his long struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease have made him a celebrity". People overlook his disability, not because of blindness, but in awe of his work and the things he has proven and done over the expanse of his life and today. What makes him a hero is that his passion and determination to find the answer to everyday cosmic questions, has propelled him to the status of a great man in our society.