BIOGRAPHY OF STEPHEN HAWKING

BIOGRAPHY

Stephen Hawking is the best-known and most popular theoretical physicist of our time. Born in Oxford in 1942, he was the son of Frank Hawking, who was a medical expert in the investigation of tropical diseases and his mother, Isobel, who studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Hawking in his childhood had to study in several schools due to several transfers from his parents to maintain his safety due to the Second World War that was taking place in those days in his country. He also had to spend long periods of time without his father, he traveled to Africa for work reasons. Young Hawking liked to ride horses and practice rowing.

He was not a good student in high school,  but in 1959 he came to the University and graduated with honors, obtaining a scholarship that allowed him to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he specialized in Theoretical Physics and Cosmology.

During a trip to the East, he was diagnosed with a neuronal disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. This disease causes a gradual destruction of the cells of the central nervous system responsible for regulating voluntary muscular activity, which causes the patient to lose their locomotor functions. However, the brain remains lucid. The doctors diagnosed it approximately two years and collapsed; He left his job and suffered a severe depression.

After a while, he saw that the disease stabilized, regained his morale and, in a wheelchair, returned to daily life. After his doctorate, he advanced in different studies on the mathematical verification of the beginning of time. On the same dates he was appointed Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge. He did many studies and works on cosmology that testify to the strength and capacity of this theoretical physicist and cosmologist interested in the general theory of relativity, in the quantum physics of particle theory, among others.

When Hawking was a Cambridge student, he met and fell in love with Jane Wilde, shortly before his illness was diagnosed. They were married in July 1965. As a result of this union, three children were born, Robert, Lucy and Timothy. After 25 years of marriage, they divorced and shortly thereafter Hawking married his personal nurse.

In the summer of 1985, Hawking contracted pneumonia. At the hospital in Geneva, he suggested to his wife that it was not worth keeping him alive with a machine. But she absolutely rejected that idea, they finally performed a tracheotomy, this operation saved her life, but  took away her voice.

Soon after, he was provided with a voice synthesizer that allowed him to use an electronic voice. Little by little, he lost the use of his limbs and the rest of the voluntary musculature, including the force of the neck to keep the head upright and its mobility practically nil. The wheelchair I use in public was controlled by a computer that handled with small movements of head and eyes, which also allowed him to select words and phrases in his speech synthesizer.

Among the contributions that Hawking left as a legacy is a publication in 1988 of his work "Brief history of time" that became a worldwide success. I work in a television series "The universe of Stephen Hawking based on his previous work and with the company of his daughter Lucy". After considering his own theory about black holes, he presented a new theory and discovered new conclusions. He made a flight to the stratosphere where he could experience the gravity invited by an American company, published another famous work called "The Secret Key of the Universe" addressed to children, asked several questions about the existence of God and declared himself an atheist. A few recognized phrases that Hawking used in his lectures to express his feelings, emotions and leave a life lesson according to his life experiences and research. "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change", "Life would be tragic if it were not fun".

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