Science Series #3: Appreciating Stephen Hawking

by Lily, Grade 8

A couple of years ago, a famous cosmologenius (cosmologist) passed away. But his life is a legacy everyone should know, even if you don’t care much about space science.

Stephen William Hawking, an English theoretical Physicist known for his countless discoveries and research that goes deep into the mysteries of the Universe, accomplished much even though he was disabled with the relentless disease, ALS. He was strong and resilient, using his technology, and continued his work in the field of physics until he died. Many modern-day scientists and physicists like him are continuing his work to this day, and probably will be for years to come. Stephen was a normal kid; he read science fiction comics, he had a sense of humor, and he played with toys. But the toys he played with could not be found at the toy store. He would take apart machines like radios, then put them back together again. This, he found very fun, and he would do this all the time growing up. But he did this just for fun, not expecting to go anywhere with his knowledge. Stephen learned and understood how the electrical parts worked, but he didn’t always know how to put the parts back together, which intrigued him. Stephen grew up avid to learn more about physics.

Stephen Hawking was not the “smartest” in his class. His grades were incredibly average, and his parents, graduates of Oxford University, were not impressed. In fact, he struggled with school; his writing was messy, he did not put much effort into his work, and he wasn’t strong in many subjects. But in math, his friends were always amazed to see him answer a question immediately when the rest of the students were calculating. He seemed to know every solution off the top of his head, which put good math grades on his report card. But his parents wanted him to attend Oxford as well, and his father suggested that he would work in medicine, or maybe even become a doctor like himself. At a young age (about 9 or 10), he decided he wanted to be a scientist, but did not predict his later discoveries about the physics of the Universe.

Once he got accepted into Oxford University of England (while he barely did), he still held on to his old ways. He was just like he was before he started college. But, his interest in physics and math propelled him forward to derive this knowledge. He also took an interest in rowing (which was a popular sport in Britain at the time), and was on the team while attending Oxford. While in Oxford, he decided that he would become a theoretical physicist and continue the work of other scientists. He did not fully understand some of the findings that other scientists had researched, and so he decided that he would dedicate his life to answering the unsolved questions of the Universe. He graduated from Oxford with First Class Honors, and went to the University of Cambridge, which was the top school for cosmology and physics. But at this point in his life, the tables started to turn.

He was experiencing difficulty talking and moving fluidly. But nevertheless, he persisted with his work in physics at Cambridge. But in his first year there (1962), he was diagnosed with ALS, a disease that slowly destroys the nerves in the brain and spine, which does unusual things to the muscles in the body. This lead him to become handicapped. Some people with ALS died because the disease stops the muscles used in breathing, which could lead to suffocation. However, the mind can still think perfectly, so Stephen could still obtain his genius even with the disease. But, as a student in his early twenties, he was told he had just 2 years to live, and became deeply depressed, stopping his studies, and ended up sitting in his room all day reading science fiction, just like he had done as a child. His father was not happy with the treatment he was getting for his ASL, and so he made a concoction for him to help his muscles and bones get stronger, since they were decaying, making Stephen weak. And after awhile, his disease stopped getting worse.

On a lighter note, Stephen learned a lot from his ALS experience. He learned that there is a lot that he wanted to do, and one of them was to get married. He met a girl named Jane Wilde, and they immediately hit it off. They became interested in each others lives. In 1964, they engaged. And in 1965, they got married. He started working very hard to get a job, which would support his family-in-progress. Jane gave him, in his words, “a will to live.” He found it hard, though, to find a place to live in this part of London, where both of them worked. But, he soon got his doctoral and started his work in cosmology. Meanwhile, their first son Robert was born 2 years after their marriage. Later in 1970, their daughter Lucy was born. But, Jane was overwhelmed with the following responsibilities. She had to take care of both Stephen and the 2 kids. But even with two kids, Stephen did not seek out a job, but instead he stayed at Cambridge, and was officially Dr. Hawking.

He continued his work in math and cosmology, and then decided to delve into the deep and unknown mysteries of black holes. This was his course of study for many years. Stephen starts using the theory of general relativity and quantum physics to solve equations about the physics of black holes, which becomes his main course of study, as previously mentioned, and he collaborated with some other professors. Although his body is still in bad condition, he is still continuing his work, and is writing books and papers about such things. He later goes on to actually disapprove of Einstein's theory of the beginning of the Universe, and then makes some big discoveries in the physics and behaviors of black holes. Now, after book writing and solving many theoretical equations to come to a conclusion of his present work with his colleagues, Hawking gets given with many prizes and important awards, one of which is the same award that the famous scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton received. His work began to be recognized all over the world, and he grew famous for his discoveries and reality-shattering theories. Even with his disability, he can be quoted on his inspirational words in which he spoke on multiple occasions. He believed that people should not confine themselves to their disability, but to go beyond and follow their own intuition.

At this point in time, Hawking and some of his other fellow workers are trying to further find out if the Universe started with a singularity. A singularity has no size, but can fit a mindblowing amount of mass into a space smaller than the size of an atom, which in the math required in quantum physics, can’t be calculated. A singularity is the one-dimensional point in which space curves infinitely. The more mass this point contains, the stronger the gravitational pull is on objects around it, which is why black holes have to have a singularity in the centre. Stephen, though, believed that maybe the beginning of the universe, or the Big Bang, may have originated from a singularity. Earlier in the book, Stephen thinks that maybe black holes don’t create a previously non-existing singularity, but maybe the neutron star already had it at its core. So, he goes on to compare the death of a neutron star (which is when a black hole is born) and the Big Bang. Now that, in Hawking’s mind, the neutron star already had a singularity, the infinitely small point made a movement outward, and then back inward, and that is the physical movement of the beginning of the life of a black hole. In the Big Bang, a similar thing happened. Since Stephen believes that the Universe began with a singularity, he thinks that maybe the singularity made the same movement, which made big leaps for Stephen and his co-workers in their theoretical physics work. When he presented this new theory to other scientists working in the same field, they denied him and said that his new ideas were ridiculous and unreal.

Most scientists don’t incorporate religion into their writing, but in Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, he does talk a bit about whether or not the Universe was created by God. He hints to his own beliefs by saying, “If we find an answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason---- for then we would know the mind of God.” He never shared more than this, in fact his colleagues would ask his his religious beliefs and he would deny answering. It was the same with his wife, Jane. She was very upset by Stephen not even telling her if he believed in God. He would not say, and that was part of the reason why the 2 divorced in 1990. But Stephen was grateful for his life; his family was healthy, he did what he loved and learned so much about the Universe, and he lived so much longer than he thought he would back in 1962 when he was told he would die in just 1-2 years. His legacy will last infinitely longer than his life did, and his amazing and mind-blowing discoveries will inspire scientists forever.

Sources;

“Stephen Hawking.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking.