It seemed only natural for Stephen Hawking to pursue a career in science. Now one of the most recognizable scientists on the planet, Stephen Hawking was born in England in 1942. His father, Dr. Frank Hawking, a research scientist, wanted his son to practice medicine. Stephen attended St. Albans School, where his final grade school report predicted, ''He will go far.''
Stephen moved to Cambridge as a PhD student. He held research fellowship positions, and began research in the area of cosmology. The first signs of his motor neuron disorder surfaced with bouts of lack of poor coordination, falls, and confusion. In the hospital, Hawking witnessed a boy in the next bed die of leukemia. A college friend of Hawking later said, ''I think he was determined to leave behind something of real value, and that spurred him to start working.''
Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 21. In July 1965, Hawking wed Jane Wild, a language student from St. Albans. The couple was told he would not survive more than a few years.
Hawking became driven in his chosen career in science. He later said, ''I have had a number of good teachers and a few not so good, but none that I would call my mentor. The nearest would be Roger Penrose, whose work introduced me to the Big Bang and black holes.''
Penrose calculated that when a star dies, it collapses indefinitely until it forms a black hole. Hawking wondered what would happen if you ran Penrose’s math backwards. Instead of something collapsing into nothingness, what if nothingness exploded into something. Stephen concluded that the universe could have originated in a Big Bang.
In 1973, Hawking began researching relativity theory at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge. Stephen Hawking never let his physical limitations take control over his mental capacity as he pursued his career in science. He has been awarded twelve honorary doctorates and received numerous awards. He considers his proudest achievement to be his election into the famed Royal Society in 1974. That said, Hawking once told a packed audience in Chicago that his greatest achievement is simply being alive.
Hawking has also received the most prestigious prize in theoretical physics, the Albert Einstein medal. Hawking has called Einstein the best scientific mind of the century. In 1979, Hawking was named the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, an honor once held by Sir Isaac Newton. Hawking’s studies into quantum physics, thermodynamics, and relativity have caused major breakthroughs and, in his own words, ''quite literally shed light on black holes.''
Hawking has shown that the General Theory of Relativity implies that both time and space should have a defined start and end. The beginning would occur during the Big Bang, and the ending would take place inside of black holes. Hawking has also contributed to the idea of imaginary time during his career in science.
Stephen Hawking is, without a doubt, the greatest theoretical physicist of our time. Hawking’s forty-year career as a renowned physicist has inspired many in the younger generation to take up careers in science. It is a great lesson for all of us that someone with his disabilities can be so successful. When asked for some of his greatest lessons learned, Hawking replied, ''I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.''
Hawking has long believed that a layperson should have access to his work. This led him to write a series of popular science books. The first of these, A Brief History of Time, is his most famous publication to date. He and his daughter, Lucy Hawking, published a children’s book focusing on science facts, George’s Secret Key to the Universe, in 2007.
Due to his illness, Hawking long ago lost his ability to speak. Almost completely paralyzed, he now uses an electronic voice synthesizer to communicate. The synthesizer was engineered by an American, and Stephen jokes that it has an American accent. Hawking operates his computer, which is attached to his wheelchair, by an infrared blink switch clipped onto his eyeglasses. By moving his right cheek, the only movement he has, he is able to communicate, write speeches, and research papers.
Hawking has a remarkable stage presence and the ability to translate complex scientific data into a language that even non-scientists can understand. During his many speeches, he is wheeled out to a standing ovation, often taking a victory lap in his wheel chair for the roaring crowd.
Hawking has often been questioned about what advice he would give students and young professionals contemplating a future career in science. His reply: ''I think science and research are more satisfying than just making money. If I were starting now, I might choose molecular biology rather than cosmology. We may find the basic laws that govern the universe, but we will never exhaust the complexity of possible biological systems.''
At age 65, Hawking experienced zero-gravity flight in preparation for his sub-orbital spaceflight scheduled to take off in 2009. Hawking is, therefore, the first quadriplegic to have floated free in a weightless state. He has been quoted as saying, ''Being confined to a wheelchair does not bother me, as my mind is free to roam the universe.''
Meanwhile, twenty years have past since Stephen Hawking promised that he would one day have the answer to how and why the universe began. Asked about that, he has said, ''I'm a child myself in the sense that I'm still looking.''
