Stephen Hawking – Story of a Great Scientist (8 Jan 1942 -14 Mar 2018)

Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest theoretical physicists who reshaped the modern physics through his bedrock concepts and explanations.

Stephen Hawking – Story of a Great Scientist (8 Jan 1942 -14 Mar 2018)

Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist who is considered one of the best physicists after Einstein. He was Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, University of Cambridge.

Hawking’s life has three important aspects, which are physics and science education, cosmology research and the passion to work with serious health problems. His commonly read book “A brief History of Time” is a standard science book, but narrative is simple and beautiful. I have enjoyed reading it twice. It pictures the universe in an interesting and simple manner.

It describes the laws of physics which governs the universe. In the book, Hawking documents the formation of scientific ideas about the universe starting from Aristotle’s time to the present. His narrative in the book includes special and general relativity, quantum mechanics, big bang, inflation, arrow of the time and unification of physics, among others. Lastly, Hawking presents his thoughts and speculation about the universe. It describes the universe from big bang to black holes.

Cosmological research and gravitation theory are Hawking’s great pieces of work. He (with Gibbons) presented the suggestive evidence of black holes in binary solar systems. Black holes are regions of intense gravitational fields. Hawking predicted in 1974 that under intense gravitational effects, black holes would emit black body radiations.

Representative temperature of the black hole is inversely proportional to its mass. These radiations are also called Hawking radiations. Hawking has also described the beginning of the time in the big bang and its arrow.

Hawking is a great inspiration to the whole world as he proved something special through his performance. If you are determined and trust in yourself, nothing can stop you from reaching your destination. From the early twenties, Hawking suffered from the motor neurone disease which increasingly paralyzed him with age.

His disease intently affected his brain’s ability to control his muscles. It continued deteriorating his capacities with time. But, he continued his work with a distinct vigor.

Hawking was engaged with Jane, a friend of his sister, shortly after he was diagnosed with the motor neurone disease. They were married on July 14, 1965. Hawking and Jane have three children Robert, Lucy and Tim. After 1985, Hawking was close to one of his nurses. After divorce from Jane, Hawking married Elaine. Hawking and Elaine were divorced in 2006.

Stephen Hawking

World’s scientific community, top leaders and the public paid a remarkable tribute to Hawking on his demise expressing emotional sorrow and sadness. News of hawking’s demise on March 14 was a big shock of sorrow to me, like millions of physics lovers around the world.

We would only read his old articles now. His bedrock concepts and explanations reshaped the modern physics. You may look into BBC story about Stephen Hawking’s funeral, mourners and related matters published on Mar 31, 2018.

Author Email: rana@alumni.nus.edu.sg

By Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Rana

Mukhtar does research on Instrumentation, Physics, and Environmental Science.