Physics 1010 Stephen Hawking Term Paper

Nolan Osborn
Salt Lake Community College

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is an incredible physicist who had a great impact

on our world. He was particularly fascinated in space and the astronomical
world. In his college years he began research on blackholes, wrote his first
book and at the age of thirty two, won the Albert Einstein award. Alongside
many achievements he was also featured on many tv shows and talk
shows as well. Stephen Hawking could be known as one of the most
influential and inspiring physicists of all time.

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8th 1942 in Oxford

England. Stephen Hawking was born at a very inconvenient time for his
parents as they were struggling with poverty and his birth was also right in
the middle of World War Two. The Hawking family had an interesting
relationship with each other. At dinner they would eat in silence each
reading their own book. It is also said that they housed bees in their
basement and made fireworks in their greenhouse. Stephens father
wanted him to pursue a career in the medical field, but Hawking was
fascinated with the sky, space and the stars at a very young age and
proceeded to pursue his fascination into college. In Hawkings teens he
constructed a computer like device with some of his friends to solve math
problems with, just out of recyclable parts. Stephen liked to stay active

through adolescence and enjoyed activities such as dancing and rowing.

Although he originally wanted to study mathematics in college he
eventually settled with studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge.
During this time at the age of 21 he was also diagnosed with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis. Hawking had noticed minor problems that he had through
college such as stumbling or slurred speech occasionally but it was not
until after college that he was officially diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis). The doctors gave Stephen Hawking two and a half years
to live. During his time at the hospital Hawking come to the self realization
that he still had so much more to live for. Shortly before being diagnosed
with ALS this he fell in love with a woman named Jane Wilde and two years
later they were married.

Hawking influenced and inspired the world of physics because once

he was diagnosed with ALS he was determined to do something great.
From that point on he became much more engaged and attentive in his
studies. Hawking began to narrow his studies and started research on
black holes. The research he did and the discoveries he made are much of
what we know now and are taught today about black holes. During this
time he became a professor at Cambridge University, had three children,

and wrote his first book. He became a scientific celebrity with his
breakthrough research and discoveries on black holes and at the age of 32
received the Albert Einstein award. As the years went on Hawkings
condition worsened and eventually he had no control over his body. He
received help from a California computer programmer who designed a
speaking program that could be controlled by head or eye movement.
Even with this device, Hawking continued to write books and scientific
papers that inspired many.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most influential physicists of all time

and will go down in history as one of the smartest and inspiring men of all
time. After all he has been through and struggled with, he is still making
miraculous discoveries today.

Bibliography:
http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/html/home.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stephen-hawking-als/
http://www.nature.com/news/stephen-hawking-there-are-no-black-holes-1.14583
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/intel-gave-stephen-hawking-voice/