One of the brightest scientists of our time died today at the age of 76. Let's recall the most significant facts of his biography.
Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after the death of astronomer Galileo Galilei. At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The doctors gave him several years of life.
At school, Stephen was a mediocre student, but he was well versed in mathematics and "was randomly interested in chemistry." At nine, his grades were among the worst in the class. However, his teachers recognized his genius, so he even earned the nickname "Einstein".
Stephen Hawking on the set of Star Trek along with the actors playing Einstein and Newton.
His father wanted Stephen to take up medicine, but he had no interest in biology. He considered it "too imprecise." As a result, at Oxford, he took up the theory of particles and cosmology, since these areas are little studied by man and gave a lot of opportunities.
At a meeting of the Royal Society, Hawking interrupted a lecture by renowned astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle to inform him that he had made a mistake. When asked how he discovered the error, Hawking replied, "It's just that I've already figured it all out in my head."
With Bill Gates.
Hawking made major discoveries in the 1970s, including perhaps his most important contribution to cosmology: Hawking radiation (black holes radiate energy until they run out). Even before the publication of his work, Hawking visited Moscow in 1973, where he met with Soviet scientists. They showed Hawking that, according to the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, rotating black holes should generate and emit particles. In 1987 he met in Moscow with Academician Sakharov.
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In the 1980s, Professor Hawking and Professor Jim Hartl proposed a model of the universe that had no boundaries in space and time. The concept was described in A Brief History of Time, which has sold 25 million copies worldwide. Hawking compares the Universe to our planet - "wherever you go, the Earth has no edge", but the planet exists only in two dimensions, and the Universe - in four.
In 1985, Stephen Hawking developed pneumonia. His condition was so dire that doctors wanted to disconnect him from life support. His wife Jane refused, and doctors performed a tracheotomy to save Stephen's life. So he lost the ability to speak and has since communicated using a voice synthesizer, and he refused to change his "voice" when Intel suggested it.
Hawking is a kind of "pop star" from science. He has appeared on The Simpsons, Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory and on the Pink Floyd album.
In the familiar living room from The Big Bang Theory.
Although Stephen Hawking has a dozen prestigious scientific and social awards, he never won the Nobel Prize. At Oxford, he held the same chair as Isaac Newton for 30 years.
Recently, Professor Hawking has been actively predicting the end of humanity - due to global warming, a new killer virus or the impact of a large comet. He offers people to move to other planets. I believed in aliens.
Rigory Matyukhin