Disabled scientist physicist Stephen Hopkins biography. Stephen Hawking - a genius in a wheelchair

Stephen William Hawking (b. 1942) is an English scientist and theorist in the field of physics and cosmology, professor of mathematics, educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He specializes in astrophysics, studies the theory of black holes, as well as the emergence of the World after the Big Bang. His main hypothesis is that small black holes gradually lose energy, while emitting Hawking radiation and as a result evaporate.

Birth and family

Stephen was born at the height of World War II on January 8, 1942. This happened in the UK in the city of Oxford. Before this, the family lived in London, but the parents, fearing German bombing, left there (the Germans and the British had an agreement not to bomb Cambridge and Oxford). When the war ended, the Hawkings returned to London and lived in the northern area of ​​Highgate.

Dad, Frank Hawking, was from Yorkshire. All of his previous ancestors were farmers, but Frank decided to devote his life to medicine. He studied at Oxford, then researched tropical diseases, for which he crossed almost the entire African continent. Dad then worked in Hampstead as a researcher in medical center.

Her mother, Isabel Hawking, was from Scotland; her father worked as a doctor all his life. She received her education at Oxford, after studying she worked as a tax inspector, but she did not like this job at all. Mom quit that job and got a job as a secretary at a medical research center, where she met her future husband, Frank.

Stephen was the eldest child in the family, then two girls appeared - Mary and Philippa, and a stepbrother Edward (the parents adopted this boy).

Stephen was one and a half years old when his first sister, Mary, was born. The boy was not very happy about this event. The small age difference was the reason that in childhood there was a tense relationship between brother and sister. Over the years, friction disappeared, everyone chose their own life path Mary became a doctor, which made her father extremely happy.

When Stephen was 5 years old, his second sister Philippa was born. The boy already understood what was happening and was really looking forward to his little sister so that the three of them could play. Edward's parents adopted him when Stephen was already 14 years old.

Childhood

Parents raised their children using books on child development. It said that at the age of two, children are ready for social contacts, so Stephen was sent to kindergarten at Byron House School. The children all played together, and Hawking stood in the playroom and sobbed loudly because he was scared, being left with him for the first time. strangers. Mom and dad took the baby and didn’t send him to kindergarten for another year and a half.

Little Stephen had a great interest in trains and really wanted such a toy. During the war, toys were not produced or sold. Dad tried to make a wooden model train for his son, but the boy was not happy with it. And when the war ended, my father went to America and brought everyone gifts for Christmas: nylon stockings for my mother, a doll with closed eyes for my sister Mary, and for Stephen railway in the form of a figure eight and a train on a locomotive. To this day, Hawking remembers the excitement with which he opened the box when he was little.

The Hawkings lived in a narrow and high house, built in Victorian style. My parents bought it during the war at a very low price, because at that time everyone was sure that London would be completely destroyed by bombing. There were indeed a lot of ruins on the street where they lived. Little Steven loved to play them with his childhood friend Howard. The boys were completely different. Howard went to the regular municipal school, his parents were ordinary people, he loved football and boxing. While Stephen studied at the most advanced English school, Byron House, his intelligent parents did not welcome their children's passion for sports.

In 1950, my parents bought a new one big house in the suburbs of London - the cathedral town of St. Albans. The Hawkings also purchased a gypsy wagon, which they took to a field near the village of Osmington Mills for the summer. My father made multi-tiered children's beds in it, and he and his mother slept next to each other in an army tent. This is how the family spent every summer vacation.

Education

Having moved to St. Albans, Stephen's parents enrolled him in a girls' school. Despite this name, boys under ten years of age were also taken there. The child had just finished his first trimester when dad was sent on another long expedition to Africa. Mom decided to spend this time with her three children with her friend on the Spanish island of Mallorca. There, Stephen was taught by the teacher of William, the son of his mother’s friend.

Further education Stephen received his education at a regular school in St. Albans. The class was very capable. Hawking's academic performance was in the middle of the class rating, yet for some reason his classmates nicknamed him Einstein. Stephen was friends with the guys in the class, they often got into arguments on different topics, but he was especially interested in the origin of the Universe.

Towards the end of school, Stephen decided to connect his life with mathematics and physics. The father did not like this decision; he wanted his son to develop in a medical direction. But the guy didn’t like either chemistry or biology. He was most fascinated by astronomy and physics, he wanted to know where people came from, why they were on this planet, he dreamed of comprehending the depth of the Universe.

In 1959, Hawking began his studies at Oxford University. Many of the guys in his year had already served in the army and were older than Stephen, so at first he felt lonely. But then, to make friends, he joined the rowing club as a coxswain.

Stephen received his BA from Oxford University in 1962 and graduated from Cambridge University in 1965.

Scientific activities

After completing his studies, Stephen was engaged in scientific research activities at the following higher education institutions educational institutions: Cambridge University, Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Institute of Astronomy. He worked at the department of theoretical physics and applied mathematics, taught the theory of gravity, and taught mathematics and gravitational physics at universities with the rank of professor.

He received several scientific degrees, positions and titles:

• fellow of the Californian Institute of Technology;
• Fellow of the Royal Society of London;
• Lucasian Professor at Cambridge University.

The most influential theoretical physicist of our time made the following discoveries:

• described black holes using thermodynamics;
• developed a theory of black hole evaporation due to a phenomenon called “Hawking radiation”;
• put forward the idea of ​​such a concept as “small black holes” with a mass of billions of tons and a volume of about a proton;
• put forward a version that microscopic black holes are a source of almost unlimited energy;
• he is one of the founders of quantum cosmology.

Hawking is an active popularizer of science. His books have been published and have become bestsellers:

• "A Brief History of Time";
• "Black holes and young universes";
• "The World in a Nutshell";
• « Brief history time";
• "George and the Secrets of the Universe" (for children).

Scientific documentaries with his participation were released on television:

• "Stephen Hawking's Universe";
• "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking";
• "The Grand Design according to Stephen Hawking."

For his achievements, Hawking was awarded many medals, orders and prizes in the field of science.

Disease

Even in his last year at Oxford, the guy began to feel that he was becoming clumsy. One day he fell down the stairs and then went to the doctor, but he brushed him off with the phrase: "Drink less beer."

When I was already studying at Cambridge, I fell while skating on Christmas Day and could not get up. His mother took Stephen to the family doctor, and after his 21st birthday was celebrated, the guy was admitted for examination. Doctors made a disappointing diagnosis - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and suggested that he had about two and a half years to live.

Everything changed in his life then. When you know that the end is very soon, you look at the world with a completely different look, and you still want to do a lot.
Fortunately, the doctors were wrong; Stephen will soon be 75 years old. Yes, the disease led to paralysis, he wheelchair, but alive.

He suffered another complex illness in 1985; after pneumonia, Hawking underwent a tracheostomy and was no longer able to speak. Friends bought him a speech synthesizer and installed it on his wheelchair. In Stephen’s entire body, only the facial muscle of his face remains mobile; opposite it is a sensor, with its help Hawking controls the computer and communicates with the world.

Despite such a serious illness, in 2007 Hawking flew in a special plane in zero gravity, and in 2009 he was going into space, but the flight did not take place.

Personal life

Stephen married for the first time in 1965 to Jane Wilde, whom he met at a party. They had three children - son Robert in 1967, daughter Lucy in 1970 and son Timati in 1979.

Over time, the relationship between the spouses deteriorated, and since 1990 they began to live apart.

In 1995, Stephen's second wife was his nurse Elaine Mason. Their marriage lasted 11 years.

As noted NTV correspondent Alexey Kondulukov, a man who could not speak for many years, after all. “We are just the evolved descendants of apes on a small planet with an unremarkable star. But we have a chance to comprehend the Universe. This is what makes us special,” said one of the most special people. A man who personified the power of thought. Conquering the stars, overcoming circumstances that would make anyone despair, fatal disease, on for many years chained him to a wheelchair.

Stephen Hawking: “The prospect of dying early made me realize that life is worth living.”

Stephen Hawking was born in 1942 in Oxford, graduated from the university there at the age of 20 and did research at Cambridge. He studied and taught astronomy, gravitational physics and mathematics. It became one of the largest modern scientists already after doctors discovered he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 21. Doctors gave him only a few years to live, but he lived for more than 50 years, and what years! He wrote several books about the structure of the Universe, traveled all over the world with lectures, developed the theory of black holes and the origin of the Universe as a result of the big bang. If many people have not read “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, millions have heard the title of the book.

Stephen Hawking: “There is nothing bigger and older than the Universe. There are a few issues about her that I would like to talk about. First. Where did we come from? How was the existence of the Universe possible? Are we alone in the Universe? Is there extraterrestrial life? What is the future of the human race?

He was completely paralyzed, with only one facial muscle in his cheek moving, but with the help of a sensor attached to it, Hawking was able to communicate with the world through a speech synthesizer and control a computer, which allowed him to write. In astrophysics, Hawking theorized that low-mass black holes lose energy and emit energy, called Hawking radiation.

“If you feel like you're in a black hole, don't give up. There is a way out,” he answered with humor, and this humor, all-conquering optimism made him perhaps the most famous scientist after Einstein, the hero of books, television films and even cartoons “The Simpsons” and a cameo in “Star Trek.” Four years ago about him early years was removed feature film“The Theory of Everything,” nominated for an Oscar and won many international awards. The outstanding popularizer of science Stephen Hawking turned his life into a bestseller, with his speeches and his example he gave millions of people hope, even where there seemed to be none. Ultimately, hope for all humanity.

Stephen Hawking: "I'm not sure human race will live at least another thousand years if he does not find an opportunity to escape into space. There are many scenarios for how all life on a small planet can die. But I'm an optimist. We will definitely reach the stars."

Name: Stephen Hawking (Stephen William Hawking)

Age: 76 years old

Place of birth: Oxford, UK

Place of death:: Cambridge

Activity: Scientist, theoretical physicist, mathematician

Marital status: was divorced

Stephen Hawking - biography

During the Second World War, Oxford and Cambridge were the only places in Great Britain that were not reached by German bombers. Frank Hawking chose Oxford and moved there from London with his wife. Soon, on January 8, 1942, Isabel gave birth to her first child, a son, Stephen.

The boy grew up strong and healthy. Two daughters followed, so Stephen was left to his own devices. He sat for a long time, dismantling old watches and other mechanisms, he wanted to see how everything worked. School turned out to be much less interesting: the teachers were boring, the subjects were boring. Unless mathematics is the only worthwhile science...

Stephen's parents worked in the medical field and were confident that their son would follow in their footsteps. But he refused - mathematics or physics! I had to work hard to get into the university, because at school Stephen was almost the worst student in the class. Although I couldn’t dare call the boy stupid. On the contrary, his classmates gave him the nickname Einstein - apparently in advance.

Stephen's admission to Oxford was celebrated on a grand scale. Only the young man himself did not really appreciate what he had. I was still only interested in exact sciences. In addition, it turned out that Hawking did not have many friends, and this upset him. True, there was a way out. Rowers were considered the most popular in Oxford, and Stephen became one of them - he took the position of helmsman. It turned out badly, the team lost at the competition, but now everyone knew him by sight, and there was no end to new acquaintances.

At one of the student parties, Stephen met her - the one who could make him forget about both his friends and rowing. Jane Wilde was not only pretty, but she also turned out to be interesting conversationalist. Well, who else would listen to stories about physical phenomena and the latest discoveries? And she listened...

Young Hawking spent one frosty Christmas day in 1962 at the skating rink. I was in a great mood, the ice was slipping under my feet, and suddenly... Everything started spinning, my legs tangled, and Stephen fell backwards. This was not the first fall. Before him, the young man had already happened to fly from the stairs, porch, and slip out of the blue. The parents insisted on an examination, and the doctors issued a disappointing verdict - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This meant that over time the muscles would completely atrophy, and Stephen himself, at best, would remain a “vegetable.”

The doctor took the patient’s inconsolable mother aside.

I give him two and a half years, no more.

The main question Stephen asked himself after hearing the verdict was: “Why me?” And then he suddenly realized how many plans he had. In addition, Jane was nearby, who, having learned about the diagnosis, was not afraid. This means we can move on with our lives.

Stephen Hawking - personal life

The disease progressed. If on own wedding Stephen came with a cane, then met his firstborn already on crutches.

Speech also failed - it became inarticulate.

Meanwhile, a daughter and another son were born. Robert, Lucy and Timothy became the meaning of Hawking's life, his continuation. But it became increasingly difficult for Jane to cope with the children, and even to care for her husband. Fortunately, a modern wheelchair was available that Stephen could easily operate. And students often ran in to check on him and help if needed. By that time, Hawking was already a professor of mathematics. It is interesting that for the first time he covered many of the topics in the textbook almost in parallel with the students, ahead of them by only a couple of weeks.

IN free time Hawking was a scientist. Most of all, he was fascinated by cosmology and black holes, which, as Stephen argued, “evaporate”, losing energy due to specific radiation. To this day it is still called Hawking radiation. The entire scientific world soon learned about the scientist’s discoveries. Prizes poured in one after another, Stephen did not expect such recognition.

Despite the obvious difficulties, the Hawking family looked quite happy from the outside.

But only from the outside... Jane has been haunted by the same nightmare for the last few years: her husband dies, and she is left alone with three children and accumulated problems.

Should we blame her for the fact that one day a woman could not stand it and succumbed to a new feeling? Jonathan Jones, a musician from the church choir, was strong, healthy, strong. On a voluntary basis, he helped the Hawking family and, in the meantime, won Jane's heart. Stephen understood what was happening, but... he let things take their course. He himself was afraid that his days were numbered, and he wanted his wife and children not to be left alone.

This triangle could have tormented its participants for a long time if not for chance. In 1985, while in Switzerland, Stephen contracted pneumonia. Complex operations did not yield results, the patient had to undergo a tracheotomy. From now on there was a tube sticking out of his throat, and he could no longer speak. Jane's hands dropped. She helped as best she could, but her enthusiasm was fading. A few years later, the couple divorced.

Those around him felt sorry for Stephen: who needs him now? To say anything, he had to type it with his finger, and the speech synthesizer would reproduce what he had written. But nurse Elaine Mason understood him without words. Spending day after day with the physicist, the woman became attached to this smart and different person. In 1995, they quietly got married.

Over the long 11 years of their life together, Elaine saved Stephen from death several times. She was there when he was choking, coughing, and losing consciousness. But for her this burden was too heavy. They divorced, humbly letting each other go.

Stephen Hawking today

Stephen Hawking is alone today. However, one is not quite the right word. Next to him are his students and colleagues, with whom he never ceases to discuss problems. modern science. He is sure that there are still many discoveries ahead. Children do not abandon the scientist - he and his daughter Lucy together wrote a children's book about the boy George and his adventures in the Universe.

73-year-old Hawking is not going to die, because there is still so much to do. After all, he still doesn't have Nobel Prize, although he fully deserves it. If an award were given for willpower, desire to live and unshakable spirit, he undoubtedly would have received it long ago.

Death of a Scientist

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. And the most famous scientist in the world, according to the verdict of doctors, should have died 50 years ago.

“Only losers are interested in their own IQ”

“We are just the evolved descendants of apes on a small planet with an unremarkable star. But we have a chance to comprehend the Universe. That's what makes us special." These words belong to someone whom many respected and authoritative scientists from different continents consider the best mind of humanity at the turn of the second and third millennium.
The British theoretical physicist is not just busy understanding the structure of the Universe, he, acting as a popularizer of science, is trying to convey knowledge to the general public. In April 1988, Hawking published his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time (From Big Bang to black holes)" - a kind of textbook about the structure of the Universe, space and time "for dummies."
“My goal is very simple. I want to understand the Universe, why it works the way it does, and why we are here,” this is how the scientist explains his aspirations. If you think that the task of comprehending the laws of the universe is the lot of people with high IQs, then Stephen Hawking has a ready answer for this: “I have no idea what my IQ is. Those who are interested in this are just losers.”
This outstanding scientist with an incredible sense of humor has not spoken to humanity in the usual way for many years. And this is not a matter of pride - due to a serious illness, the only way to communicate for Hawking is a computer with a speech synthesizer.

Death sentence at 21 years old.

He was born in 1942 in Oxford, where his parents moved from London - the city was regularly subjected to Nazi air raids. Stephen's father, Frank Hawking, worked as a researcher at a medical center in Hampstead. His mother, Isabel, worked there as a secretary.
Since childhood, he looked like a scientist - not a very slender figure, glasses and the nickname “Crammer” for his excessive interest in boring, from the point of view of his peers, scientific debates. At the same time, Stephen was never the first student at school. His abilities and interests were limited to mathematics, physics and chemistry, and he was indifferent to other subjects.
In 1959, he became a student at Oxford University, but even there he did not show much zeal. Study and scientific activity at that time he devoted an hour a day. “I am not proud of this lack of work, I am only describing my attitude towards studying, which was completely shared by most of my fellow students. At Cambridge it was already assumed that you were a brilliant student, without effort, otherwise you could accept the limitations of your abilities and graduate after high school", Hawking recalled.
He was studying cosmology, intending to discover the secrets of the universe, but did not know that inside himself there was a ticking time bomb. Stephen suddenly noticed that he began to stumble too often and for no reason. I went to the doctors, and after an examination they rendered a verdict - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This is an incurable disease of the central nervous system, which leads to paralysis and atrophy of all muscles of the body. Inevitable death occurs from failure of the respiratory tract.
21-year-old student Hawking was told he had two years to live. Well, at most two and a half.

Wheelchair and three children.

There was a dissertation that had been started on the table... Is it needed now? Hawking decided: it is absolutely necessary. He must have time to do at least something of what he has in mind. And a race against time began, when the body obeyed worse and worse every day.
In the midst of this struggle, Hawking met a charming girl, Jane, and fell in love. He not only wanted to live longer, he wanted to start a family. But can a beauty reciprocate a bespectacled man completely immersed in physics, condemned by doctors?
Jane Wilde did not just answer, she became his muse and assistant. But in order to marry Jane, Stephen Hawking had to do two things - get a job, which would require finishing his dissertation and achieving an advanced degree, and not die.

In 1965, according to the doctors' verdict, Stephen Hawking was expected to be buried. The young scientist replaced them for the wedding, which he came to with his own feet, albeit leaning on a cane. He could not defeat his illness, but he fought it desperately. In 1967, she forced him to take crutches, Hawking responded with the birth of her first child. He was already confined to a wheelchair, but he and Jane had a daughter and another son.
Stephen Hawking traveled around the world, worked with scientists different countries. His scientific works were as amazing as his courage. In 1973, Hawking came to the USSR, where he discussed the problems of black holes with leading Soviet specialists in this field, Yakov Zeldovich and Alexei Starobinsky.

In the early 1980s, Professor Hawking and Professor Jim Hartle proposed a model of the Universe that has no cosmic boundaries and no time. It is this model that is described in what has become a global bestseller (25 million copies sold worldwide) “ Brief history time."
Once, at a meeting of the Royal Society, Hawking interrupted the lecture of the famous astrophysicist Fred Hoyle to point out an error in his answer before the problem was solved. When the professor asked how Hawking noticed the error, he said: “I just already solved the problem in my head.”
The world recognized him as a genius, but this recognition could not restore his health. In 1985, he was struck down by pneumonia, a disease that often turns fatal when Hawking is diagnosed. The scientist made it out this time too, but due to the operation he was forever unable to speak.

“I would raise my eyebrows when someone showed me alphabet cards in a row. It was very slow. “I couldn’t carry on a conversation and, of course, I couldn’t write a scientific paper,” Hawking recalled. - Luckily, I still have enough strength in my hand to press and release the small switch. This switch is connected to a computer, on the screen of which the cursor moves all the time. It helps me select words from a list that appears on the screen. The words I've already selected appear at the top of the screen. Once I've built a complete phrase, I send it to the sound synthesizer. The synthesizer I use is quite old, 13 years old. But I became very attached to him."

How Hawking lost his subscription to Penthouse.

Over the years, the disease left Stephen Hawking with fewer and fewer options. IN recent years mobility remained only in the facial muscle of the cheek, opposite which the sensor was attached. With its help, the physicist controls a computer that allows him to communicate with others. After surgery in 1985 and loss of speech, Hawking's relationship with his wife gradually deteriorated. In 1990, after a quarter of a century of marriage, they began to live separately and then divorced. And in 1995, the scientist... married his nurse. The marriage to Elaine Mason lasted 11 years, after which the physicist separated from this passion of his.
“But it looks like this guy is only paralyzed from above,” they began to write with some envy about Hawking’s personal life quite healthy men, not having success with ladies.
Back in 1974, Stephen Hawking and his colleague Kip Thorne agreed on the nature of the object Cygnus X-1 and the nature of its radiation. Hawking was sure that the object was not black hole, Thorne was sure of the opposite. In 1990, Hawking admitted that he was wrong and gave Thorne his winnings - a one-year subscription to the men's magazine Penthouse.
For Hawking, the winner of every conceivable and inconceivable award (with the possible exception of the Nobel Prize), such an attitude towards science is completely normal.

Fashionable and irreligious.

He is perhaps the most fashionable scientist in the world. A man confined to a chair, deprived of speech, according to surveys English journalists, is one of the most respected people among British youth, along with athletes and music stars. It is regularly mentioned in books, films and even cartoons. In The Simpsons and Futurama, he himself voiced his cartoon character.
Hawking alternates serious scientific works with popular science books and films. In 2010, Stephen Hawking released his book The Grand Design, which describes the hypothesis that the existence of God is not necessary to explain the origins and mechanisms of the Universe.
Hawking is not a militant, but he is certainly the most influential atheist of our time. After the divorce, the first wife admitted that she could not come to terms with these views of Stephen. But arguing with Hawking in this case is not serious - the scientist knows so much about the Universe that the only worthy opponent in the discussion on this issue for him only the Lord himself can become. “The main enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge,” Hawking notes.
In April 2007, Stephen Hawking again forced the young and healthy people scratching your head, having been in a state of weightlessness, having flown on a special laboratory aircraft, which allows you to create this state for a few seconds in conditions of gravity.
In 2009, the scientist was planning to fly into space, but the flight did not take place. But Hawking himself is convinced that humanity will avoid global catastrophe and death only if it manages to master interstellar travel. The physicist has no doubt that people will reach the stars.

Never give up.

When Stephen Hawking had already become Stephen Hawking, known throughout the world, amazing things began to be found in his biography. For example, he was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo Galilei. Hawking served as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years - the same post was held by Isaac Newton three centuries before him.
Hawking himself, however, treats all such signs with humor, as well as all his own activities in general. In the mid-1990s, he said that he did not directly study mathematics after school, which became a problem in the first year of teaching this discipline to students. Mathematics professor Hawking found a simple way out - he read the same textbook as his students, only a couple of weeks ahead of them.
As you read these lines about Stephen Hawking, know that he is invisibly watching you with disapproval, because: “Wandering the Internet is as brainless an idea as constantly switching TV channels.”
On January 8, 2017, Stephen Hawking turned 75 years old. This year marks exactly half a century since the life span allotted to the young student by doctors expired. The scientist was unable to overcome his illness, but managed to stretch out the fight against it for a lifetime. A life whose fruitfulness and richness can only be envied. “It’s very important to just not give up,” many people have said this phrase, but from the lips of Stephen Hawking it sounds most convincing.

British scientist Stephen Hawking today it is known to many who are at least somehow connected with or interested in such sciences as astrophysics and mathematics. He is also a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

Nicolaus Copernicus previously held the same position at Cambridge.

Brief biography

Stephen Hawking ( full name– Stephen William Hawking) born January 8, 1942 in Oxford, UK. His father - Frank Hawking, researcher in medical scientific center. His mother - Isabel Hawking, secretary at a medical research center.

In total, Frank and Isabel had 4 children: two sons and two daughters. Stephen's brother Edward was adopted.

Study period

Stephen Hawking graduated in 1962 Oxford University and received a bachelor's degree. Then he decided to continue his studies and entered Cambridge, where he defended his degree in 1966 Doctor of Philosophy.

Terrible disease

In the early 60s, Stephen began to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Doctors said that the young scientist had time to live maximum 2.5 years. However, the progress of the disease was slower than doctors expected.

Despite this, over time, Stephen's body became completely paralyzed; from the late 60s, he was forced to start using a wheelchair. But this did not stop him from doing what he loved - scientific and teaching activities.

Scientific and teaching activities

While still studying at the University of Cambridge, Hawking began working on research at Gonville and Keyes College.

• In 1968-72, his research activities continued in Institute of Theoretical Astronomy.
• Then he practiced for a year Institute of Astronomy.
• In 1973-75, he worked at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics in Cambridge.
• He devoted the next 2 years to teaching the theory of gravity, and in 1979 he received the title Professor of Gravitational Physics. In the same year he became Professor of mathematics.
• In 1974, Stephen Hawking became a member Royal Society of London.
• From 1979 to 2009 he was Lucasovsky professor Cambridge University.

Participation in scientific events in the USSR

In 1973, Stephen Hawking visited Moscow, where he discussed black hole problems with Soviet scientists Ya. Zeldovich And A. Starobinsky.

The next time a British astrophysicist visited Moscow was in 1981 - he took part in an international seminar in quantum physics(the theory of gravity was discussed).

Complete loss of speech

In the mid-80s, Stephen Hawking suffered from severe pneumonia. Doctors were forced to perform several operations, including tracheotomy, after which the scientist completely lost the ability to speak.

His friends and associates gave him a computer speech synthesizer. Hawking controls it using the only moving muscle of your body - the facial muscle of the cheek.

Stephen Hawking's activism

Despite serious illness, Stephen Hawking is not discouraged and leads an active life, both scientifically and socially:

• In 2007, he flew in zero gravity on a special plane.
• In 2009, he even planned a flight into space. But this event did not take place.

Hawking himself says that, despite the title of Professor of Mathematics, he never received any special education in this subject, apart from the school curriculum.

What other facts from the biography of Stephen Hawking do you know?