Stephen Hawking
The man who is called Rare Genius
Here's a time line of Stephen Hawking's life:
- 1942 - Born in Oxford, England, the eldest of four children born to Frank Hawking, a biologist, and Isobel Hawking, a medical research secretary.
- 1952 - Attends St. Albans School.
- 1959 - Receives a scholarship to attend University College, Oxford. Though he was interested in mathematics, since the university didn't have acourse, he opted for physics.
- 1962 - Graduates with honours and gets admission to Cambridge University to do research in cosmology.
- 1963 - At the age of 21, diagnosed with the degenerative nerve disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He is given two years to live.
- 1965 - Marries his first wife, Jane Wilde. Came to the wedding on crutches.
- 1966 - Gets his PhD. Begins study on black holes along with Roger Penrose. Wins Adams Prize.
- 1968 - Becomes a member of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy. Begins epic era of researches. Becomes wheelchair bound
- 1970 - Hawking discovers The Second Law of Black Hole Dynamics. Using quantum theory and general relativity, Hawking reveals that black holes can emit radiation.
- 1973 - First book 'The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time' published.
- 1974 - Makes notable findings. Finds black holes cannot be completely black, but they ought to emit radiation, resulting in them losing mass. This theory is known today as Hawking radiation. Wins international fame. Becomes member of the Royal Society.
- 1977 - Hawking is appointed as professor of gravitational physics at Cambridge.
- 1978 - receives the presetigious Alber Einsten prize.
- 1979 - Becomes Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a prestigious position once held by Isaac Newton.
- 1985 - Admitted to a hospital in Geneva with pneumonia. He survives after an operation, but loses what remained of his speech. The next year he begins communicating through the electronic voice synthesizer that gave him his trademark robotic “voice.”
- 1988 - Publishes “A Brief History of Time,” a book on cosmology aimed at the general public that becomes an instant best-seller.
- 1989 - Made a Companion of Honor by Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1993 - Publishes 'Black Holes and Baby Universe and Other Essays'.
- 2004 -Hawking changes his theory at the International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin. He concedes that information can escape from black holes after all.
- 2009 - Wins Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honour. Quits Cambridge.
- 2014 - Hawking’s life is celebrated in the Oscar-winning biopic “The Theory of Everything,” based on the memoir “Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen,” by Jane Hawking.
- 2018 - dies at the age of 76.
"Professor Stephen Hawking was an outstanding scientist and academic. His grit and tenacity inspired people all over the world. His demise is anguishing. Professor Hawking's pioneering work made our world a better place."
-- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi