Steven Hawking
By: Aiden Childs
Life Brief
Stephen was born during World War Two, at Oxford university, where there was a peace agreement not to bomb the historic university's. He had two sisters and an adopted brother. His family was always recognized for being intelligent and eccentric, and they apparently all read at the dinner party. While Steven went to St. Albans, he did not completely subscribe to the Christian faith. He went to Oxford university, and then afterwards attended Cambridge after graduation. While attending Cambridge, he was diagnosed with ALS, a disease that makes the brain unable to control the muscles in the body, but otherwise leaving the mind unaffected. Steven, at first took the news with depression, but being in the field of cosmology meant very little physical work had to be done, so he focused on his research. He married in June 1965, and had become Dr. Stephen Hawking at age 23.
Background Symbolism
The background relates to Steven Hawkins thoughts, and how the universe fits together like clockwork or gears, with nothing else watching over. This is shown with the quote from "A Brief History of Time", Steven wrote "Neither beginning or end: it would simply be. What place then, for a creator?" (McDaniel 73).
3 Facts
- Became a Doctor at 23
- The first person to link thermodynamics, cosmology, and quantum mechanics
- Was only supposed to live for two years after diagnosis, lived 30 years after the fact
"In the 30 years since he was told that he had two years to live, he has vastly extended humankinds understanding of the universe and its origins." (McDaniel 107).
Accomplishment
Steven Hawking has lived longer then any thought possible, and while doing so he gained the best understanding of physics that the world has ever known. He has theorized black holes and made us all understand them, and in turn understand the world around us. "It would be the ultimate triumph of human reason-for then we would know the mind of God." (McDaniel 70).
Struggle
Steven Hawking suffrage from ALS, a disease that causes the brain to be unable to control the muscles in the body. This disease should have killed him in two years like it did with other patients, but instead he continues to live even after 30 years. He fought it, and unlike others, he won. He lost the ability to walk, then write, and then finally speak, but with the help of a computer regulated voice synthesizer, he now can speak, and with an electric wheelchair, how still has mobility. "They assumed that he would die quickly because he had devolved ALS at a much younger age then most." (McDaniel 41).
Mentor/Friend
Dennis Sciama was Stevens advisor during Stevens's graduate years at Cambridge. He served to guide Steaven, and also help Steven find a research problem for Steven's PH.D.. Doing so he eventually caused Steven to meet Penrose, a life long friend and research partner. "After Hawkings Research doctorate, Hawking and Oenrose were off and running." (McDaniel 51).
Awards
He has received for his theory on Hawking radiation a membership of the royal society fellows, the pious XII Medal, the Eddington Medal, and the Hughes Medal, along with the Hopkins, Dannie Heinemann, and Maxwell prizes.
Hobbies and Interests
While Steven Hwaking used to be a coxswain(steerer) on the rowing team, due tit he onset of his illness he no longer holds any hobbies or interests recorded in either the book or the Internet on what he does when is not researching.
Symbol
This map represents how Steven Hawking is like in a way. It is extremely warped, and at first glance seems useless. However, once you pay attention, you relize how accurate it is, with everything completely scaled to the right form. It may be a warped map, but it is the most precise one there is, and it is all the better for it. As The biography puts it "he loathed being thought of as a disabled scientist-he preferred to be considers a scientist who happens to have a disability." (McDaniel 77).
Friend or Foe
I think Steven Hawking would be my friend, in that we both think that the human race should come first, we both enjoy finding out how the universe ticks, and finnally that mathematics are a means to an end.
Most like
I believe Steven Hawking is very similar to Albert Einstien. They both at one point made an equation that changed physics and spent time to to prove them false, they both are de as the brightest minds, and they are the two biggest contributors to physics that the world has seen.
Altruist or Egotist
I belive that Steven Hawking is an altruist, despite his early egotistical nature. For one, he is always speaking about bringing humanity up, not himself. Finnally, an egotist would have stopped the moment they had there future set, but Steven kept trying just as hard as he did before he reached fame.
Why?
I belive Steven works the way he does, because he truly believes that his work will benifit mankind, and I belive that is correct. He is searching for "the ultimate triumph of human Reason, for then we would know the mind of God" (McDaniel 70).
How
I belive that Steven manedged to live so long by way of the others around him, especially his wife, that gave him something to live for. You could say that physics gave him the drive, but the people around him let him have a drive. "Gave me the will to live." (McDaniel 49).