Stephen Hawking - A Modern Scientific Genius

frequently mentioned that he was born 300 years to the day after Galileo's death and held the chair at Cambridge once occupied by Sir Isaac Newton.

In 1983 Hawking and Jam Hartle proposed the idea of "no boundaries," saying that time and space are finite in extent but have no boundary or edge and there are no singularities.

In 1984 Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, was published. Hawking had expressed his intention to write a bestselling book. He did not disappoint. A Brief History of Time enjoyed the longest-ever time on the bestsellers list. Hawking intended the book to be enjoyed by non-scientists who were interested in understanding complex scientific concepts. The book has been translated into over thirty languages and has sold over ten million copies worldwide.

Throughout the years, Hawking's health has worsened. Following a case of pneumonia, a doctor performed a tracheostomy, which left Hawking without speech. He is in a wheelchair and requires 24-hour nursing care. Using a small computer and a voice synthesizer, Hawking selects words from a series of menus and then processes the words through the synthesizer. He can manage fifteen words per minute. He uses the same method for his extensive writing efforts. And Hawking jokes about the American accent of the synthesizer.

Hawking's books include The Theory of Everything, A Brief History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, The Nature of Space and Time, Hawking on the Big Bang and Black Holes and others.

Arguably the smartest man in the world, Hawking signs documents with his thumbprint. According to Hawking, he enjoys classical music and Formula-One racing. He has made guest appearances on The Simpsons and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He travels extensively and participates in seminars for both scientists and students. He has three children: a son, Robert, who is a software engineer with Microsoft; a daughter, Lucy, who is a journalist and a son, Tim, who is studying languages.

Honors and Awards:

• twelve honorary degrees
• Fellow, The Royal Society, 1974
• Commander of the British Empire, 1982
• Companion of Honour, 1989
• Member, National Academy of Sciences

Sources:

http://www.ucando.org/hawking.html
http://www.hawking.org.uk/text/about/abo...
http://www.hawking.org.uk/text/about/qa....
http://www.hawking.org.uk/text/disable/d...
http://www.plus.maths.org/issue18/news/h...
http://www.plus.maths.org/issue18/featur...
http://www.sciam.com/0796issue/0796hawki...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/cosmosta...
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Press/haw...
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Press/haw...
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history...

Stuart Jones, University College, Oxford, Captain of Boats 2003-04

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