Stephen Hawking | OtterKnow Kids Encyclopedia

Early Life

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England — exactly 300 years after the death of the famous scientist Galileo Galilei. His family moved to St Albans, north of London, where Stephen grew up as a curious but not especially hardworking student. He and his friends loved building model airplanes and boats, and they even built a simple computer out of recycled telephone parts. His father was a medical researcher who studied tropical diseases, and his mother was one of the first women to attend Oxford University. Stephen’s family valued learning and often read books silently together at the dinner table.

Education

Stephen studied physics at University College, Oxford, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1962. His professors recognized his brilliance even though he later admitted he spent only about one hour a day on schoolwork during his undergraduate years. He then moved to Cambridge University to pursue his PhD in cosmology, the study of the origin and structure of the universe. At Cambridge, he began working on some of the biggest questions in science, including how the universe began and whether time has a starting point. His doctoral thesis on expanding universes became one of the most requested documents in Cambridge’s library.

Diagnosis with ALS

At age 21, while still a graduate student, Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a disease that gradually destroys the nerve cells that control muscles, eventually making it impossible to walk, speak, or even breathe without help. Doctors told Stephen he had only about two years to live, which was devastating news for a young man just starting his career. But Stephen refused to give up — he threw himself into his research with even greater determination. Remarkably, he lived for 55 more years after his diagnosis, far longer than anyone expected.

Black Holes and Hawking Radiation

Stephen became one of the world’s leading experts on black holes, the mysterious regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. In 1974, he proposed a revolutionary idea that became known as Hawking radiation: black holes are not completely black but actually emit tiny amounts of energy and particles. Over incredibly long periods of time, this means black holes slowly shrink and eventually evaporate completely. This discovery was groundbreaking because it connected two major areas of physics — quantum mechanics, which governs the tiniest particles, and general relativity, which describes gravity and the cosmos. Many scientists consider it one of the most important theoretical discoveries of the twentieth century.

A Brief History of Time

In 1988, Stephen published “A Brief History of Time,” a book that tried to explain the biggest mysteries of the universe — black holes, the Big Bang, and the nature of time — in language that ordinary people could understand. The book became a massive bestseller, selling over 25 million copies worldwide and translated into more than 40 languages. It spent an astonishing 237 weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list, a record at the time. Stephen wanted everyone, not just scientists, to share the excitement of understanding how the universe works. The book made him one of the most famous scientists in the world and a household name.

Communicating with Technology

As Stephen’s ALS progressed over the years, he gradually lost the ability to move and speak. At first he used a handheld clicker to select words on a computer screen, but eventually he could only move a single muscle in his cheek. A sensor attached to his glasses detected tiny cheek movements, allowing him to select letters and words one at a time on his computer. A speech-generating device then spoke his words aloud in a distinctive computerized voice that became recognized around the world. Stephen once joked that the American-accented voice had become so much a part of his identity that he would never change it, even when better-sounding options became available.

Ideas About the Universe

Stephen, along with physicist Jim Hartle, proposed the “no-boundary proposal,” a bold idea suggesting that the universe has no beginning or edge in time, much like how the surface of a sphere has no edge or boundary. He believed the universe began with the Big Bang roughly 13.8 billion years ago, but that asking what came “before” the Big Bang is like asking what is north of the North Pole — the question itself does not make sense. Stephen also believed that science would eventually find a single theory that explains everything in the universe, from the smallest particles to the largest galaxies. He spent much of his career searching for this “theory of everything.”

Death and Legacy

Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76 — and many people noticed that March 14 is Pi Day, a celebration of the mathematical constant, and also the birthday of Albert Einstein. His ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey in London, placed between the graves of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, two of the greatest scientists who ever lived. Stephen received numerous honors during his lifetime, including the Albert Einstein Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and fellowship of the Royal Society. He showed the world that physical limitations cannot stop a brilliant mind, and his courage in the face of a devastating disease inspired millions of people far beyond the world of science.