Stephen Hawking:world’s foremost living theoretical physicist

Stephen Hawking is considered the world’s foremost living theoretical physicist. He’s an expert on black holes whose stated intention is to unify quantum mechanics with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, forming a single theory to explain the origin (and end) of the universe. Hawking, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, is the author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time.

Stephen Hawking decided to become a scientist when he was 8 or 9 years old. By the time he was 14, he had narrowed down his field of interest to mathematics and physics. After obtaining a first class honors degree from Oxford University, he decided to do his Ph.D. study at Cambridge. It was at Cambridge that the disease that was to make him a physical wreck first manifested itself. He began bumping into things. His hands trembled and he found it difficult to tie his shoelaces. His parents took him to a specialist who, after subjecting him to a battery of tests, announced that he had a rare ailment known as motor neuron disease. Victims of the disease usually do not live very long and Hawking, who was 21 years old at the time, was told that he might not live to see his 25th birthday. He was plunged into despair and lost interest in his work.. Then he realized that death was not imminent and he began to fight back the crippling ailment. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1966, married, had children, and slowly began to make a name for himself in his chosen field of study, Cosmology, the study of the Universe.
In 1988, he wrote a book in which he put down some of his ideas about the formation and ultimate destiny of the universe. It was titled ‘A Brief History of Time’. It became a best-seller, and brought him fame and fortune.

Today Hawking is confined to a wheelchair and he cannot even speak without a synthesizer, but his mind remains unaffected. To doctors, he is a medical curiosity; to scientists, he is a path breaker in the study of the universe — some have even described him the ‘world’s greatest living physicist’.

Hawking actually suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease) since he was a young man and is confined to a wheelchair.

A Brief History of Time says a lot about God. God is mentioned in this book from beginning to end. So let us try to put Hawking’s opinions about God in some sort of a context. The context is that Stephen Hawking made up his mind about God long before he became a cosmologist.

• Born: 8 January 1942
• Birthplace: Oxford, England
• Best Known As: The author of A Brief History of Time

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