Many of us are familiar with Stephen Hawking, but some may not be able to answer why his name is so recognizable. Regardless, there was a sudden pause in the universe when Hawking passed on March 14, 2018.
Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, United Kingdom. In his early years, he was described as a mediocre student. Hawking admitted to The Varkey Foundation, “I wasn’t the best student at all. My handwriting was bad and I could be lazy.” In fact, he did not learn how to read until he was eight-years-old. Hawking never needed notes or textbooks to do his work.
His brilliance was initially noted by his peers and professors. It wasn’t until he was inspired by his math teacher that he captivated by math and science. He grew up to become one of the most famous physicists and cosmologists of modern times.
In 1963 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and was told that he only had five years to live. He lived most of his life affected by his condition, navigating life with his electric wheelchair. If you remember the #icebucketchallenge, you may recall that the donations were being submitted to ALS research.
ALS is a non-contagious disorder that affects the functionality of nerves and muscles. People diagnosed with ALS experience symptoms such as muscle weakness, fatigue, and difficulty speaking. After diagnosis, people with ALS are expected to live two to five years after diagnosis. Hawking lived fifty-five years after his diagnosis.However, Stephen Hawking lost his ability to speak due to his life-saving tracheotomy, which came as a result of contracting pneumonia.
Because of his condition, he began to think of the chances of his own mortality. His condition changed his outlook on life, realizing that he had a lot of things he wanted to do and wanted to make something of himself.
Hawking came to be one of the most popular physicist, next to Einstein. He changed the way we understood black holes and wanted to answer the most difficult questions about our universe. He dedicated his life to his research, but because he had difficulty writing about his ideas, he spent much time making sense of it in his mind.
His discoveries revolutionized and deepened our understanding of some of the greatest phenomenon in the universe. Hawking contributed much to the study of black holes. Through his calculations, he found that black holes were not actually black. Black holes will absorb everything including light and nothing is expected to come out.
To specify, black holes are the result of a star that has collapsed on itself. It has absolutely no volume, but an infinite amount of mass. For being so dense, it means nothing would be able to escape from the black hole. In 1978, Hawking found that particles come out of the black holes and it wasn’t something he intended to find. In fact, he recalls being annoyed in his discovery of such particles.
Hawking theorized that the atoms of whatever enters the black hole will not return, but the mass energy emitted from it returns to the universe. This radiation was appropriately named “Hawking Radiation.” In leaking these energies and particles, the black hole would later explode over high energy.
Hawking also denied the existence of an event horizon, the theoretical boundary surrounding a black hole, and instead offered the theory of an apparent horizon. He hesitated to publish such a theory because theorists are still attempting to understand it fully today. In some sense, he feared that quantum theory would have to be rewritten and modified to suit the finding.
He speculated that there were no spacetime boundaries in the universe. He expanded on this idea by explaining that there could not have been time or space before the big bang. The big bang was enormous expansion of highly dense matter and high temperature that created our universe. Hawking believed that spacetime boundaries were artificial and simply a human-made construct.
Stephen Hawking was no stranger to tackling controversial topics. At one point, he even betted against the existence of the black hole. Not only did he voice concern over extraterrestrials, but also over artificial intelligence. Yes, Stephen Hawking insisted that robots would take over the world. Much of it could be due to technology advancing at an incredible pace; whereas humans are bound to their slow biological evolution.
ALS has always lingered over him, deteriorating his physical abilities over time. In an interview with The Guardian, Hawking stated, “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last forty-nine years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.” His view on death was quite neutral, even after he solidly dismissed the possibility of an afterlife. Hawking did not personally believe in any religion, as he thought that it was just comfort for the fears of what comes after death.
Perhaps if he had not changed his outlook on life, he wouldn’t have become one of the world’s most renowned theoretical physicist. In Hawking’s mind, he was free. He is now traveling the cosmos, sailing beyond the stars, and learning more than he ever dreamed.
Alma Tovar
Features Reporter