Stephen Hawking has been hailed as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein. Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, which as he likes to point out is the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. Hawking originally studied at Oxford University in England studying physics even though he would have preferred math. He moved onto Cambridge University to work on his PhD in cosmology. Hawking's career has focused upon the cosmic entities known as black holes, and has extended to specialized areas such as quantum gravity, particle physics, and supersymmetry.
A field of study that Stephen Hawking is known for is cosmology. Cosmology is the metaphysical study of the origin and nature of the universe. A brief synopsis of Hawking indicates that, according to Hawking, "there is 'no place for a creator', that God does not exist." In his quantum cosmology, he indicates, "there would be no singularities at which the laws of science broke down and no edge of space-time at which one would have to appeal to God or some new law to set the boundary conditions for space-time . . . The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE . . . What place, then, for a creator?"(Smith 2005)Theists have argued against this position, specifically, "that even if Hawking's physical laws are true, that fact does not entail that the God of classical theism does not exist or even disconfirm the classical theistic hypothesis." It would appear that Hawking did not inhibit himself to simply one theory when asking the question where did we come from and why. Rather, he points out that "if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason for then we would know the mind of God."(Smith 2005)
Next to cosmology, Hawking is one of many physicists who are seeking out a flawless theory of Quantum Gravity. This topic is listed under the "Stephen Hawking" Wikipedia entry as one of Hawking's primary fields of research.
Hawking is still alive and has been living with his disease for fifty-two years now (“Stephen Hawking Biography”, n.d.). In doing research as to how Hawking has been able to live so long with this disease, I came to the conclusion that there is not a reason. An article written by Terrence McCoy (2015) in the Washington Post described his lengthy life as “extraordinary” and “extremely rare”. This is further indication that his interminable existence is supported by pure luck. What an incredible coincidence that such an important man was able to withstand the consequences of a highly fatal disease. Stephen Hawking, the Hawking family, and the rest of the world are, whether they know it or not, thankful for this one man’s extreme luck. His contributions to scientific knowledge and his perseverance will be forever
Since his birth, Albert Einstein has had the most beneficial effects on the events of the world. Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1979 and as a boy displayed an unquenchable curiosity for understanding science and all of its mysteries. As Albert Einstein’s life progressed, he found himself working as a patent clerk in Bern. While working as a patent clerk in Bern, Albert Einstein had a plethora amount of time which was devoted to formulating his theories. Also during this time, Albert Einstein received his Doctorate degree and started working on one of his most influential papers, which was the Special Theory of Relativity. After Einstein completed his Special Theory of Relativity, he moved onto creating the General Theory of Relativity which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. With the creation of both the General Theory of Relativity and the Special Theory of Relativity, Einstein was able to create his Theory of Relativity which comprises of both theories. Other scientific discoveries that Einstein made are the existence of the photon, the theory of Brownian motion, the concept of Mass-energy equivalence, the photoelectric effect, the first quantum theory of specific heats, the Einstein-Brilloui-Keller method for finding the quantum mechanical version of a classical system , Bose-Einstein statistics and Bose-Einstein condensates, the EPR paradox, and although his efforts were unsuccessful, in his last thirty years of life Einstein explored various classical unified field theories that could account for both electromagnetism and gravitation and possibly quantum mechanics.
reality normally consists of two parts: a) A set of local laws that are obeyed
Hawking, Stephen. “Our Picture of the Universe.” Fields of Reading. 6th ed. Ed. Nancy R. Comely et al. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. (565-574)
Like the boundaries on earth, mankind has always looked to the sky in awe for it seemed boundless in its ever growing horizon. Out of all the cosmos that’s being found and discovered every day, there is one object that stands to elude scientists still, the black hole. Albert Einstein, and all the brilliant scientists after his, help to design and create a part of the universe that’s very crucial to understanding existence. The perimeters of a black hole have been a great this that has been discussed and observed to the point where it eventually becomes clear as its compared to objects around or like it. The physics of the black holes existence is still unclear for it shows properties that support Einstein’s theory and quantum mechanics, but at the same time breaks them both.
At a young age, Hawking began to suffer from ALS and the disease started to deteriorate the muscles in his body, which as a result affected his mobility and speech. Hawking’s disability gave him a headway into studying deeper in the field of science. As a result, Hawking has developed many respected theorem and ideas that have changed Hawking. Hawking already possessed skills and the knowledge, but because of his hurdles of adversity he was able to develop many more theorems and ideas that are applied today.
“Sometimes I wonder if I'm as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.” This is just one of the many quotes said by Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking was born on January 8th, 1942. He is a British scientist who has done groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology. He is also an author as well as a professor at Cambridge who has written at least 131 books, the most famous of those are on the topic of black holes and general relativity. He was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) at the age of 21, and doctors gave him two or three years to live, but he is still alive today at the age of 75. In that span of time he has overcome the hindrance of his disease and physical disability to become one of the most influential physicists since Albert Einstein, and he’s also vastly expanded the knowledge available to everybody through seminars, lectures, and books. For these reasons, he qualifies as a modern-day hero.
Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England. He spent most of his childhood in and around London, and was always a bit of a self-educator. He was interested in the stars, and his family used to lie out on the grass looking at the stars. His writing was appalling, and he was one of the only people at school to be issued with a copybook. He was never really good with his hands, and gave the impression of nervousness, being lanky and awkward in movement. Stephen Hawking wanted to study mathematics and physics in a university, but his father believed that there would not be any jobs in mathematics and thus Hawking took physics and chemistry, and only a bit of math.
Since the dawn of the man we have been wanderers and explorers, looking up at the night sky, studying the stars, and pondering the origin of them. How did we get here? Who are we? Why are we here? Why does anything exist? These are questions that have baffled us since we first looked to the stars, and still do continue to linger amongst us. Will we ever know the answer to these questions? This cannot be easily answered, for we uncover new mysteries every day, but with the uncovering of one mystery, comes the discovery of another. In Steven Hawking’s “The Grand Design” and the “Theory of Everything” he discusses these mysteries that have dominated our lives since the beginning. Starting with a brief history of our understanding of the universe, he quickly delves into the topics of the big bang, black holes, the forces that govern our universe, and he addresses other theoretical theories. By the end of these books the reader is left off with a more insightful view of the scientific universe that encompasses them.
Our galaxy the Milky Way, has over 100 million black holes in it? A black hole is usually thought of dark swirling mass that sucks everything around it in. Stephen Hawking was the one who made people think about black holes this way. He was the person that provided proof for them and made many theories about them. All of Hawking’s books are bestsellers, despite them being about physics. He is known internationally. Stephen Hawking is a physicist made many contributions to the world of science and his theories are renowned worldwide.
Stephen Hawking is a world-renowned British theoretical physicist, mainly known for his contributions to quantum gravity, general relativity, and cosmology. He especially impacted the science of black holes. As a child he dreamed of being a scientist and was intrigued by the sky and its infinite depth. Born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford England, Hawking was surrounded by a family of thinkers and was expected to be exceptional, just as his parents were. Both parents attended Oxford University. His family was eccentric and often acted differently than the typical family. At dinner they would sit in silence while reading books. Their family car was a London taxi, they housed bees, and produced fireworks in their greenhouse (Stephen Hawking). His family was unique but impacted Hawking’s pathway to success with their educational influence.
Norton, John D. "Einstein on the Completeness of Quantum Theory." University of Pittsburgh, 2011. Web Page. 31 March 2014. .
The theory of Special Relativity, written by Albert Einstein in 1905, describes the laws of motion at velocities close to and at the speed of light. It was written to make the laws of motion consistent with the laws of electromagnetism. Special relativity makes two postulates: the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers and the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, regardless of motion. One of the consequences of these postulates is that clocks run slower to an observer in motion, or time slows down. Special relativity also states that objects at high speeds always appear shorter in the direction of motion than they do at rest. However, length measurements transverse to the direction of motion are unaffected. Velocity addition is different for special relativity than for classical mechanics because according to special relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Also, in order to retain the conservation of momentum as a general law consistent with Einstein's first postulate, a new definition of momentum must be used at relativistic velocities. The twin paradox is the famous example that uses time dilation and length contraction. Special relativity is not contradictory with classical mechanics because at low speeds, all of the laws of special relativity reduce to the laws of classical mechanics.
Yes, many people have heard of Albert Einsteins General Theory of Relativity, but few people know about the intriguing life that led this scientist to discover what some have called The Greatest Single achievement of human thought!
Stephen Hawking one of the greatest physicist was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford,England. Surprisingly he was born on the 300 hundredth anniversary of Galileo. Hawking’s parents lived in Highgate during the attack of the world war II and the black out in London. For a more guarded and secure place his mother Isobel decided to give birth in Oxford, England.(Hawking.org) During this time money was very little for the Hawkings because of the war. Everything was hard for them at this time especially when raising a family. While Stephen was growing up the Hawkings were oddly different from him, during dinner time in most occasions they were often reading a book. They were recognized as being highly intelligent and very clever people. Besides for Stephen he was the more normal one in the family. Hawking at a young was recognized as being bright and his mother would say how he had a strong sense of wonder, “stars would always draw his attention,”she quoted. Yet he wouldn’t take his school work seriously. (biography.com) He was ranked no more than halfway up in his class and also struggled with reading. (Ferguson, pg.20) Even though, him and a couple of friends would solve mathematical equations together it took his friends hours to solve about 2 problems out of 10 but on the other hand, he would rush downstairs in minutes and have completed already 5 (biography.com)