STEPHEN HAWKINS – TRIUMPH OF MIND OVER BODY

Prof. Stephen Hawkins is no more. He was one of the most beloved scientists in this generation not only for his intellect, but for his wit and humour. He was a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. He was 76 and he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The crippling disease confined him to an electric wheelchair for much of his adult life. Diagnosed at age 21, he was one of the world’s longest survivors of ALS.

His life was an example of the triumph of mind over body. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus” he would say. He had so much to achieve in life that he postponed his death almost willingly. He once said “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.” At an Oxford University Union speech in 2016 he revealed his mantra of life "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up." "I have always tried to overcome the limitations of my condition and lead as full a life as possible. I have traveled the world, from the Antarctic to zero gravity. Perhaps one day I will go into space."

Hawking was born on January 8th, 1942 in Oxford, the United Kingdom to two Oxford University graduates, Frank and Isobel. He had two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, as well as an adopted brother named Edward. The family moved to St. Alban’s, Hertfordshire, where they were considered to be both highly intelligent and somewhat eccentric by the locals. They lived frugally in a large, messy house and got around in a converted London taxi cab.

Following his primary and secondary school education, Hawking began his university education as an undergraduate at University College, Oxford in 1959 at the age of 17. Although the world only pictures him as a man confined to a wheelchair due to debilitating motor neuron disease that he was diagnosed with aged just 21, Hawking actually gained a reputation as being something of a daredevil during his university years. He was the coxswain of a rowing crew at the University College Boat Club, and became notorious for steering his crew on risky courses, inevitably leading to a string of damaged rowing boats. He left University College with a Bachelor of Arts in natural science in 1962 prior to starting to work on his doctorate.

He was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease around that time, and this led him to become deeply depressed. Nevertheless, he was encouraged to continue his studies by his supervisor, Dennis William Sciama, and was eventually able to demonstrate that Einstein’s general theory of relativity implies space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and end in black holes. He completed his doctorate on the origins of the universe, became a research fellow at Caius College.

Despite beginning to use crutches in the early 1960s, he long fought off having to use a wheelchair, but when he finally couldn’t do so any longer, he gained notoriety for wild driving on the streets of Cambridge. He also used to run over students’ toes intentionally and would even spin himself on the dance floor at college parties.

During his graduate years at Cambridge, Hawking fell in love with his first wife, Jane Wilde, whom he married in 1965 and they had three children. The marriage would end some 30 years later after the marriage succumbed to the pressures of Prof. Hawking’s fame, ideological differences and the difficulties surrounding caring for him in light of his disability. He remarried in mid 1990s.

As Prof. Hawking’s fame increased his health worsened. After his degenerative muscle disorder was diagnosed, he defied medical opinion by living five decades longer than expected. He communicated his ideas through an American-accented speech synthesizer after a life-saving tracheotomy in 1985 took away his ability to speak. To the layman, the robot-like voice only seemed to give his words added authority.

Together with Roger Penrose, Prof. Hawking had his first major breakthrough in 1970. They were able to use mathematics to show that a singularity, a region of infinite curvature in space-time, was the point from which the big bang emanated. Prof. Hawking realized the mathematical approaches he developed with mathematician Roger Penrose could be applied to black holes, a term coined by physicist John Wheeler. Prof. Hawking worked for the next four years on black holes, discovering they weren't totally black, but leaked radiation, now known as "Hawking radiation". Later he realized that he was wrong in his argument about black holes being able to radiate and boldly accepted it. Prof. Hawking was in a Cambridge pub with his students when he suddenly turned up his voice synthesizer to full volume and bellowed that he was conceding defeat. Anyone who studied under his tuition or knew him personally knew him for his wicked sense of humor.

Prof. Hawking was elected to the Royal Society in 1974 aged just 32 after the series of radical discoveries he made during his early career, and would become the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge for the next 30 years. The latter position is often thought as the UK’s most distinguished academic chair and was once held by Isaac Newton.

His 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, catapulted Hawking to international stardom. It sold over 10 million copies and was translated into no less than 40 different languages. His other popular books included The Universe in a Nutshell (2001), On the Shoulders of Giants (2002) and The Grand Design (2010). “For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

Then US president Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hawking in 2009, the year of his retirement. During his lifetime, he won the Albert Einstein Award, the Wolf Prize, the Copley Medal and the Fundamental Physics Prize, however, the Nobel Prize for Physics eluded him.

Perhaps it’s not surprising to know that Prof. Hawking was not a religious man, and dismissed the comforts of religious belief. He once said "God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator." He was of the opinion that "The scientific account is complete. Theology is unnecessary." Mocking at those who believe in destiny and karma he said “I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

His life has also been immortalized on screen and in 2015, Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’, a film about the scientist's life. Not to miss out on the opportunity to crack a joke he famously said "Unfortunately, Eddie [Redmayne] did not inherit my good looks."

The great cosmologist is survived by his three children from his first marriage, together with his three grandchildren. "It would not be much of a universe, if it wasn't home to the people you love" he once said. They will miss him and so will the world!

May his soul rest in peace. We will miss him forever.