As a fellow collegiate doing a bachelor in Science, Stephen Hawking was and will still be one of the people I admire most, and I’m not alone in that, millions of people around the globe look up to him as the greatest mind of the millennium since Einstein. His death last Wednesday the 14th shook the very core of every aspiring scientist, we lost one of the great ones, but I’m sure his discoveries will live on forever.
Stephen Hawking with his wife Jane.
Hawking was born on the 8th of January, 1942 in Oxford, England on the 300th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s birthday. As a child, he showed prodigious talent, and at the mere age of 17 he got accepted into Oxford University, where he finished a B.S. in Physics. Later in 1962, he attended Cambridge University to obtain a PhD in Cosmology.
“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
– Stephen Hawking’s Universe (1985) by John Boslough, Ch. 7
I mean don’t we all wish to discover the meaning of the universe? Although Hawking was very accomplished, in 1963 while studying in Cambridge, he began developing the symptoms of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and he often questioned himself, “Why me?” In comments published in a 2002 British Medical Journal article, he stated that,
“The realization that I had an incurable disease that was likely to kill me in a few years was a bit of a shock.”
But that didn’t stop him from achieving greatness, becoming a brilliant researcher, and Professional Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. He believed that his disease had given him the opportunity to excel in life.
Stephen Hawking celebrating 50 years as a fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge holding a Caius teddy bear.
He was so brilliant that he even held the post of Lucasian Professor at Cambridge; the chair that Isaac Newton once held in 1663.
As the disease kept running its course, his physical control diminished, and by 1969 he had to use a wheelchair. Then in 1985 he lost his voice due to a tracheotomy, but that still didn’t stop him in his quest to find the origin of the universe.
It was a Californian computer programmer, who had developed a speaking program that could be directed by head or eye movement, who gave Hawkins his voice again so he could continue spreading his knowledge.
He even published books, among the most popular are his best sellers; A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell, The Grand Design, and My Brief History.
Professor Stephen Hawking also had thirteen honorary degrees. Was awarded CBE (1982), Companion of Honour (1989), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009).
He was the recipient of the Fundamental Physics prize (2013), the Copley Medal (2006), and the Wolf Foundation prize (1988). He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Additionally, he has been a guest star in numerous popular TV shows like; The Big Bang Theory, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Simpsons, The Tonight Show, and more.
Stephen William Hawking was a star, who will continue shining throughout the universe for light years to come, his passing has taken quite a toll on humanity. Many took to social media to share their and say goodbye to the greatest scientist of our time, one last time.
His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake. But it’s not empty. Think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of spacetime that defies measure. Stephen Hawking, RIP 1942-2018. pic.twitter.com/nAanMySqkt
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 14, 2018
Remembering Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist and ambassador of science. His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014 pic.twitter.com/FeR4fd2zZ5
— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2018
Stephen Hawking was born January 8, 1942, on the 300th anniversary of Galileo’s death. He died today, March 14th, on the anniversary of Einstein’s birth. Time is circular – no beginning, no end.
— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) March 14, 2018
Still, Hawking was not only an exemplary scientist, but also an exemplary human being. He taught each and every one of us that nothing is impossible in life, and that our greatest obstacle is our mind.
“In order to exceed in life, we only need to set forth and conquer.”