A man with a great sense of humor, a world-renowned ambassador of science, physicist Stephen Hawking, one of the most respected and well-known scientists of his time, always wanted to ensure that the public had direct access to his work, global media emphasize.
Hawking passed away in his home in Cambridge early Wednesday morning at the age of 76 after a lifelong battle with the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which eventually completely paralyzed him, allowing him to communicate through an artificial voice and eyebrow movements. “We are deeply saddened by the death of our beloved father,” his children Lucy, Robert, and Tim stated in a press release.
>>> Hawking: We have 100 years for ‘escape from Earth’
The scientist who sought to explain some of the most complex questions of life did so while the danger of probable premature death loomed over him throughout his life, writes the British agency Reuters.
Since 1974, he worked on connecting two foundations of modern physics – Einstein’s theory of relativity, which deals with gravity and large-scale phenomena, and quantum theory, which deals with subatomic particles.
As a result of his research, Hawking proposed a model of the Universe based on two concepts of time: real time, as experienced by people, and imaginary time of quantum theory in which the world exists.
“Imaginary time may sound like science fiction… but it is a real scientific concept,” he wrote in one lecture, explaining that real time can be represented as a horizontal line where the past is on the left and the future on the right, while there is another type of time that has a vertical direction. “It is called imaginary time because it is not time that we normally experience, but it is actually also real like real time.”
>>> Stephen Hawking’s PhD now available to everyone
Hawking discovered a phenomenon that became known as Hawking radiation, which is about the ‘leakage’ of radiation from black holes and their disappearance.
Hawking’s youth was marked by a severe diagnosis
Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford on January 8, 1942. His father, a research biologist, moved to that city with his mother to avoid German bombings. Hawking grew up in London and after graduating in physics from Oxford, he moved on to a doctoral study in cosmology at Cambridge.
As a teenager, he enjoyed riding and rowing, but at Cambridge, at the age of 21, he was diagnosed with a form of neurodegenerative disease that would eventually completely paralyze him.
While preparing for his wedding to his first wife Jane in 1964, doctors gave him no more than two to three years to live.
>>> Hawking: A world government can control our aggression, identify threats
However, the disease progressed much slower than doctors expected. The couple had three children, and in 1988, although Hawking could no longer speak independently and used an artificial voice after a tracheotomy, he completed the book “A Brief History of Time,” a layman’s guide to cosmology.
His book became an unexpected bestseller, although it is unclear how many people managed to read it to the end, writes the BBC. The book sold over ten million copies and was known as “the most popular book that is not read.”
The scientist appeared in a number of popular television shows and “lent” his synthesized voice on numerous occasions.
Hawking’s star status was even recognized by the popular Simpsons – he was shown in a bar drinking with Homer, suggesting that he might steal Homer’s idea that the universe is shaped like a donut.
>>> Stephen Hawking: AI could be ‘the worst event in the history of our civilization’
He appeared in an episode of the comedy series “The Big Bang Theory” about the lives of young physicists, where he found an error in the work of one of the main characters, and he was often the target of jokes from the show’s characters. He also appeared in an episode of the BBC series Red Dwarf as a hologram of his character from Star Trek.
The rock band Pink Floyd used his recognizable artificial voice as an introduction to “Keep Talking” on their album “The Division Bell.”
The scientist overcame the limitations of his illness with impressive capabilities
He was known for his exceptional ability to visualize scientific solutions without calculations or experiments.
His impressive mind broke through the boundaries of human understanding of both the vastness of the Universe and the bizarre submolecular world of quantum theory, which he believed could predict what happens at the beginning and end of time, writes Reuters.
His work encompassed a range from the origin of the Universe, through the challenging journey through time to the secrets of space-devouring black holes. However, it is likely that his “theory of everything,” which suggested that the Universe evolves according to well-defined laws, attracted the most attention. “A complete set of laws can give us answers to questions like how the universe was created,” he said. “Where is it going, and will it have an end? If so, how will it end? If we find answers to these questions, we will truly know the mind of God.”
>>> We have entered the ‘Terminator era’
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for years,” his family wrote. “His courage and perseverance, along with his brilliance and humor, inspired people around the world,” the Hawking family stated.
Unwavering despite his severe health condition, Hawking continued to work as a mathematics professor at Cambridge in one of the most prestigious positions, and in 2001, his second book “The Universe in a Nutshell” was published.
He believed that his illness brought him some benefits – he said that before he got sick, he was bored with life. Due to his condition, he became increasingly dependent on others. He often credited his wife, who cared for him for over 20 years, but shocked friends and relatives when he left her for one of his caregivers, whom he married in 1995.
Allegations of abuse
By 2000, Hawking was a frequent visitor to the emergency department of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he received medical assistance for a number of injuries. The police conducted an investigation into allegations that he had suffered physical and verbal abuse for years, but no charges were filed. He was known to be unpredictable and almost recklessly operated his electric wheelchair, insisting that the injuries were not a result of abuse.
In 2007, he became the first person with quadriplegia to experience weightlessness in a modified aircraft specially designed to simulate weightlessness. He explained that he did this to stimulate interest in space travel.
>>> Gates: Bioterrorism is the greatest threat to humanity
“I believe that life on Earth is continuously exposed to an increasing risk of extinction due to disasters such as sudden nuclear war, artificially created viruses, or other dangers. I think that the human race has no future if it does not travel to space. Therefore, I want to stimulate public interest in space.”
In 2014, the film “The Theory of Everything” was released based on Jane Hawking’s story about their relationship and marriage. Hawking met with actor Eddie Redmayne as part of his preparation for the role. For the Discovery Channel, he stated that it is entirely reasonable to assume that there is intelligent life somewhere else, but warned that aliens could simply ravage Earth and move on.
Hawking on the serious illness that marked his life
In the book, he wrote about how he felt when he was diagnosed.
“I felt it was unfair – why did this happen to me?” “At that time, I thought my life was over and that I would never fulfill everything I thought I could. But now, 50 years later, I can be satisfied with my life.”
He wrote that he had suffered from a serious illness for almost his entire life, but that did not prevent him from having a family and being successful in his work.
“This shows that no one should lose hope.”
