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Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford (Great Britain) on 8th January, 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo), during World War II. He was the eldest of four children in a family of intellectuals; his father, a biologist specialising in tropical disease research, lectured at University College, Oxford.
The immense curiosity that has always accompanied him led him to become interested in the world of Science, preferring Mathematics and Physics, as Natural Sciences seemed too imprecise to him. He graduated from Oxford University and followed postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he specialised in Theoretical Physics and Cosmology.
Hawking wanted to study with the famous astronomer Fred Hoyle, founder of the Cambridge Institute of Astrophysics, but was assigned to carry out his research studies under Dennis Sciama. After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973, he joined the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, where he held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1979 to 2009. This chair was established in 1663 with money left in the will of the Reverend Henry Lucas, who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow, and then in 1663 by Isaac Newton.
During his undergraduate years, Stephen Hawking made a trip to the Middle East and contracted a virus which gave him amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease causes a gradual destruction of the central nervous system cells that regulate voluntary muscle activity, making the affected person lose motor control. However, the brain remains lucid. After doctors gave him less than two years to live, Hawking had a breakdown, leaving his job and suffering a serious depression.
As time passed and he saw that the disease became stabilized, he rallied and, bound to a wheelchair, began his thesis under the supervision of Professor Sciama. After obtaining his PhD, Hawking began working with the theoretical physicist Roger Penrose in the mathematical proof of the beginning of time. Around that time he was appointed Research Fellow of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge, the department for which he currently holds the chair.
His theories on the singularity of the Universe, the “Big Bang” or explosion that originated the Cosmos and black holes revolutionized 20th-century physics, opening up new horizons for research. For many, Hawking is the second half of the century’s response to what Albert Einstein achieved in its first half. In 1974, he presented his theories on black holes at the Rutherford Laboratory, being elected a Fellow of The Royal Society that same year.
His scientific work has attempted to unify the Theory of Relativity with Quantum Mechanics, with the understanding that their unification might explain the origin of the universe. His studies have primarily focussed on black holes, regions of space where matter is so dense that gravitational effects are so strong that nothing escapes them. Hawking has shown that the supposed holes are in fact thermal energy, a steady stream of particles with a power equivalent to that of six nuclear reactors. As to a general concept of the Universe, Hawking defines it as a spacetime that is finite and curved, without borders or boundaries.
His many publications include The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime along with G.F.R. Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W. Israel, and 300 Years of Gravity, also with W. Israel. Stephen Hawking has also two popular books published: his best seller, A Brief History of Time, and Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays. His anthology, On the Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy, was published in 2003. In 2005, he published A Brief History of Time and in 2010, The Grand Design, with Leonard Mlodinow.
Among many other distinctions, he has received the Albert Einstein Award (1978), considered the highest honour in Theoretical Physics. Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees, was awarded the CBE in 1982 and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989.
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