Mind_of_a_God

November 30, 2010 | Raj Patel | | Stephen Hawking | | Stephen Hawking | Mind of a God Stephen William Hawking has a mind that is beyond today's way of thinking. His theories on black holes and his search for a grand unification theory, which would link the theories of relativity with those of quantum mechanics, have propelled him into the one of the great minds of the world like Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England to Dr. Frank Hawking, a research biologist, and Isobel Hawking. Hawking's birth came at an inappropriate time for his parents, who didn't have much money. The political climate was also tense, as England was dealing with World War. In an effort to seek a safer place to have their first child, Frank moved his pregnant wife from their London home to Oxford. The Hawkings would go on to have two other children, Mary (1943) and Philippa (1947). A second son, Edward, was adopted in 1956. After Hawking was born the family moved back to London where his father headed the division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research. In 1950 his family moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire, where he attended St Albans High School for Girls from 1950 to 1953 where boys could attend until the age of ten. From the age of eleven, he attended St Albans School, where he was an average student. At the school he met one of his greatest influencers his math teacher Dikran Tahta. He was such a big influence in his life that Hawking named one of the four houses and to an extracurricular science lecture series after Tahta. Hawking had an interest in science. The interest was developed by his mathematics teacher; he originally wanted to study it at the university level. However, Hawking's father wanted him to apply to University College Oxford, where he had attended. University College did not have mathematics at that time, Hawking therefore applied to read natural sciences, in which he gained a scholarship. Once at University College, Hawking specialized in physics. His interests were in thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Hawking was passing, but his unhealthy study habits caused his final examination score on the borderline between first and second class honours, making an oral exam necessary. After getting his B.A. degree at University College, Oxford in 1962 he stayed to study astronomy. He decided to leave when he found that studying sunspots did not appeal to him and that he was more interested in theory than in observation. He left Oxford for Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he engaged in the study of cosmology and theoretical astronomy. Throughout his early work Hawking used the word “god” as metaphorical meanings but also suggested his opinion that existence of god was unnecessary to explain the origin of the universe. However in his book “The Grand Design” and through several interviews he clarifies that he does not believe in a personal god. Therefore he is an “Atheist”. Hawking also compared religion with science when he said: "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority [imposed dogma, faith], [as opposed to] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works." Symptoms of the disorder first appeared while he was at University of Cambridge; he lost his balance and fell down the stairs, hitting his head. Worried that he would lose his intellect, he took the Mensa test to verify that his intellectual abilities were still intact. He now started developing symptoms of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also called Lou Gehrig's. It is a rapidly progressive and fatal neuromuscular disease that is characterized by degeneration of a select group of nerve cells and pathways (motor neurons) in the brain and spinal cord. The loss of motor neurons leads to paralysis of the voluntary muscles (e.g. breathing is controlled voluntarily by the chest muscle, death occurs when the muscles no longer work). ALS is not contagious but it is deadly. The battle to fight the disease is relatively short with 80% people losing their lives within 2 – 8 years of diagnosis Stephen Hawking is the exception since he has been living with ALS for 47 years of his life and continues to live. The cause of ALS is still unknown but research is being conducted in various fields. In majority of cases ALS affects lower portion of the spinal cord first. So the first signs of ALS are usually weakness of muscles, cramps, weakened reflexes in arms and legs. The rate of muscle loss however vary significantly from person to person with people having long periods with slow degeneration to others having rapid degeneration. There are many symptoms to ALS but some common ones are muscle stiffness, excessive fatigue, speech disorder, difficulty swallowing, shortness of breath at rest and disordered articulation. During the first 2 years at Cambridge he didn’t distinguish himself, but after the diagnosis of his disease and with the help of his doctoral tutor, Dennis William Sciama he returned to working on his Ph.D. After gaining his Ph.D. at Trinity Hall, Stephen became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. Hawking did not see much point in obtaining a doctorate if he were to die soon so he stopped his learning at that point. The diagnosis of motor neurone disease came fourth when Hawking was 21, shortly before his first marriage to Jane and doctors said he would not survive more than two or three years. Hawking was married to Jane Wilde in 1965 who was a language student. She only cared for Hawking until 1991 when the couple separated because of the pressures of fame and his increasing disability. Together they had 3 children: Robert Hawking born in 1967, Lucy Hawking born in 1969, and Timothy Hawking born in 1979. By 1974, Hawking’s condition becomes so bad that he was unable to feed himself or get out of bed. His speech became so slurred that only people who knew him well enough understood what he was saying In 1985, during a visit to the research centre CERN in Geneva Hawking caught pneumonia and had to have a tracheotomy, which made him unable to speak at all. A Cambridge scientist built a device that enabled Hawking to write onto a computer with small movements of his body, and then have a voice synthesizer to speak what he has typed. Hawking then married his nurse, Elaine Mason previously married to David Mason, the designer of the first version of Hawking's talking computer), in 1995. In October 2006, Hawking filed for divorce from his second wife amid claims by former nurses that she had abused him. In 1999, Jane Hawking published a memoir “Music to Move the Stars” detailing her long-term relationship with a family friend whom she later married. Hawking's daughter Lucy became a novelist and their oldest son Robert emigrated to the United States got married and has one child George Edward Hawking. Despite his downs through the years Hawking achieved more than a man ever could he won several awards and honours in which some of them are: Eddington Medal (1975), Albert Einstein Medal (1979), Order of British Empire (1982) an done of his most prized and honorary medals Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) whish was presented to him by the president of USA (Barrack Obama). He didn’t let the fact that he had ALS and was quadriplegic get to him he still followed his goals and achieved his full potential and he continues to live on doing what he loves. We should all be more aware of what people go through and be appreciative for what we have and be inspired by people like Stephen Hawking, who has shown the world of endless possibilities. His disease has also raised awareness in people to why the nervous system plays a key role in our day to day live. Personally I think the nervous system is the most important in your body because it does everything from helping birds fly to healing cuts on your body. Without it you wouldn’t have any part of your body working because the nervous system sends messages to different parts of the body allowing for multiple functions from breathing to you reading this beautiful paper. All the organs in our body rely on nerve impulses to function. You could say it’s the master control unit of your body. References "Wikipedia," Stephen Hawking, ed. Wikipedia, 30 Nov. 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking. "ECheat," Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science Summary, ed. Kealo, 30 Nov. 2001 http://www.echeat.com/essay.php't=26725. "Stephen Hawking," Biography, ed. Unknown, 30 Nov. 2001 http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.php/about-stephen/briefhistory. "Biography," Stephen Hawking, ed. Unknown, 30 Nov. 2001 http://www.biography.com/articles/Stephen-Hawking-9331710. "Enotes," Stephen Hawking - 1942, ed. Deborah A. Schmitt, 30 Nov. 2001 http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/hawking-stephen. "ALS," What is ALS', ed. ALS Society of Ontario, 30 Nov. 2001 http://www.alsont.ca/about-als/. "LetzWave," Amazing Achievements of Prof. Stephen Hawking, ed. LetzWave, 30 Nov. 2001 http://letzwave.blogspot.com/2010/03/amazing-achievements-of-prof-stephen.html.