‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’
Thus goes an old adage, and reminds everyone to take courage, and never lose heart. Hardships do come; we can outlive them with the power of our will. History has treasured a number of people who have proven this. Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, is one of them. Nothing is more moving that the realization that a man with no movement and no voice is rocking this world with his genius.
Stephen Hawking’s parents lived in London. His father was involved in some research in medicine. However during World War II, London proved to be a danger-prone area to live in. So, Hawking’s mother went to Oxford where Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. When peace returned, the family united in Highgate, North London. Stephen started his schooling here.
In 1950 the family moved to St Albans. Hawking, who as sickly even as a child, studied in St. Albans school till he was eleven. In 1959 he joined the famous Oxford University and in 1962, graduated with a specialization in physics. After getting this degree, he moved to Cambridge to take up research on cosmology – the science that explains how the planets and other heavenly bodies act and interact. During the later days of these researches, Hawking began to realize that his health was constantly betraying him, and he was growing rather clumsy. He was aware of such symptoms even while at Oxford where he had fallen without reasons for a couple of times, but didn’t take them seriously. After he went home for Christmas at the end of the first term at Cambridge, his mother urged him to see a doctor. The doctor declared that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of neuron disease. It was a serious disease that would cause nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to degenerate and eventually die. This would further lead to weak muscular activities, and loss of brain’s control on body movement.
His health condition deteriorated day by day, and the doctors predicted that he would not live long enough to complete his research. Hawking gradually lost the use of his arms and legs.
However, nothing deterred Hawking, who was determined by his iron will. His research was showing progress day by day in spite of all these things.
Hawking completed his research in 1966 and was awarded doctoral degree. Thereafter, he was offered jobs and positions everywhere. Starting with the position of a Research Fellow, he held various positions, and in 1979, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge – the same position Newton held around 300 years before.
After his formal education was over, and he held a post of prestige, he started working further on cosmology, and concentrated on the study of blackholes. One of his major findings showed that the balckholes also emitted light – a claim that was thought impossible in the past. Another ground-breaking outcome of his research was that he proved time and space to be ‘finite’ in extent, though they have no boundary or edge.
Hawking thought he should document his findings and claims in the form of a book. Before the book was completed however, he suffered from pneumonia. At a hospital in Geneva, the doctors diagnosed it to be a fatal syndrome, and he was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. There Roger Grey, a senior surgeon, perfumed an operation of his throat. The operation saved his life, but took away his voice forever.
This too didn’t deter Hawking. He was given a computer system that enabled him to have electronic voice. He immediately got back to working amid all these difficulties and brought out the book A Brief History of Time in 1988. Within three days of its publication, the book was voted to be a bestseller, and remained in the same position for 237 week, a Guinness world record.
After this overwhelming success, a series of books came from Hawking’s pen. Some of the most successful ones are The Universe in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything, A Brief History of Time, On the Soldier of Giants, The Dreams that Stuff is Made of, A Briefer History of Time, Hawking on the Big Bang and the Black Holes etc.
There is a long list of awards and prizes he has received for his outstanding works, researches and contributions. He got the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1988, followed by the Prince of Asturias Award in 1989. In 1999 he received the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize from the American Physical Society. In 2006 he was awarded with the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. The medal he received had been carried by the British astronaut Piers Sellers on a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Receiving the award, Hawking has been reported to have said, “This is a very distinguished medal. It was awarded to Darwin, Einstein and Crick. I am honored to be in their company.”
The legendary scientist died on March 14, 2018 at the age of 76.