Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking in 1988 (http://images.google.com/images?q=stephen%20hawkimng&biw=1188&bih=513)

　Professor Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England on January 8th, 1942. His actions and intelligence has impacted the scientific world in such a positive way, he also is an amazing human who has overcome many things in his life.

  Stephen's parents were Dr. Frank Hawking and Isobel Hawking. He had 2 sisters named Mary and Philippa. He also had a brother named Edward who was adopted. In 1965 he married Jane Wilde and they had 3 children named Robert, born in 1967, Lucy, born in 1969 and Timothy ,who was born in 1979. Stephen and Jane separated in 1991 which led to Stephen’s second marriage to Elaine Mason in 1995. After 10 years of marriage Elaine and Stephen divorced.  

  Stephen started out life as a normal healthy child. He attended St. Albans school when he was young. During his early years, he was a good student but he was not considered to be gifted. He always had an interest in science and math. After finishing public school and high school, he attended Oxford College where he studied physics as mathematics was not available. He graduated from Oxford in 1962 with a B.A in science. Even though he had already earned a degree, he continued his schooling at Trinity Hall University in Cambridge. He graduated with a Doctorate degree in 1966.

At the age of 21, Stephen was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). This disability caused Stephen to have muscle weakness in his legs, which eventually confined him to his wheelchair. The disease slowly spread throughout his body causing him to become paralyzed. ALS affected his breathing which led to him having a tracheotomy. The tracheotomy permanently damaged his vocal cords and he could no longer speak. A man by the name of Walt Woltosz developed a talking machine for Stephen in 1985 after hearing about his sickness. Walt’s idea led to David Mason’s smaller portable talking machine that can be attached to Stephen’s wheelchair. A.L.S also is known to be fatal to a patient with in the first 10 years of diagnosis where as Stephen has been living with A.L.S for over 40 years.

Stephen was and still is one of the world’s most famous scientists. He has had a career in science for over 40 years; Stephen has also been honoured with approximately 15 awards and medals. His I.Q is so high that it cannot be measured but is thought to be over 200. He also doesn’t know his exact I.Q but when asked about his intelligence in 2004 he replied “I have no idea, people who boast about their I.Q are losers”. Even with his disability he has written many articles, books and some scientific essays. Stephen has impacted the scientific world in such a positive way with his theorys that have proved to be true. His books and his mind alone have earned Stephen a forever spot in the scientific community.

For overcoming the disability and challenges in his life, he is my hero. He has also taught me to accept everyone the way they are and stick up for everyone because no matter what they are like now, they could have many incredible things to share with the world.

“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired” -Stephen Hawking