Stephen W. Hawking

Stephen Hawking was born in London, the eighth of January in 1942. He attended St. Albans High School for Girls (Boys could attend the school until the age of 10 at the time). When he was 11 he attended St. Albans High School. Hawking went to University College (in Oxford) after. His father wanted him to study medicine. He wanted to take mathematics, but students could not apply to learn that at the time. He took physics instead. After three years he was awarded a first class honours degree in natural science.

From Oxford, Hawking moved to Cambridge do to research in cosmology. He started to notice he was getting clumsy (A few times he fell down for no reason at all) and his mother told him to go see a doctor. They diagnosed Hawking with motor neurone disease (A disease that slowly destroys the motor nerves in the brain) Hawking has to use a wheelchair to walk because the disease has almost completely paralyzed him. The doctors thought he would only live 2-3 years. He completed his doctorate in 1966. In 1970 he discovered that black holes shouldn’t be completely black and can emit radiation, and that they should eventually evaporate and disappear. In 1982 he decided to write a book on cosmology. However, in 1985 he caught pneumonia. He was rushed to the hospital and had a surgery. It saved his life, but it took away his voice.

He was given a computer system so he could speak. This system runs on batteries on the back of the wheelchair. The computer must be upgraded every year or so, to keep up with technological advancements. The original was made by David Mason (of the Cambridge Adaptive Communications, a company that makes things to help disabled people who can’t communicate) however Intel engineers have replaced the computer with more processing power. The actual computer program that lets him talk was made by Walt Woltosz. The program is called equalizer. There is also an infra-red remote attached to the computer so hawking can operate everything in his house (The television, the radio,the doors, the lights, etc...) With this he finished his book (A Brief History of Time) in 1988. He considers himself to be “lucky” despite his illness. He was expected to live 2-3 years. At the time of writing Stephen Hawking is 67. He has had this illness for all of his adult life.

Hawking has won many awards such as Copley Medal and the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. Hawking also has twelve honorary degrees. Hawking is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He has contributed to black hole theory and other physics-related things. He has published a large amount of books as well.

Stephen Hawking is my hero because he shows us all, that even if the odds are stacked against you, you can still achieve something brilliant.