Created by: Michael Newman

Stephen Hawking is a famous physicist that showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. Hawking discovered a theory. Hawking discovered a theory that black holes were not back, and that black holes could emit radiation, calling it Hawking Radiation.

 Stephen Hawking suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Motor Neuron Disease, or as the French calls it maladie de Charcot. ALS is a fatal and incurable neurological disease that damages the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neurons are nerve cells that control your movement. The upper and lower motor neurons are an important part of the body’s neuromuscular system.  Over time, ALS causes these motor neurons to shrink and disappear in the brain and spinal cord, therefore the muscles no longer receive signals to move. The muscles become smaller and weaker, and gradually the body becomes paralyzed.

 In his last year attending Oxford in 1962, he began noticing his clumsiness and slurred speech increasing. When Hawking returned home from Christmas his father urged him to see a doctor. At age 21, Hawking was diagnosed with ALS. During the 1960’s his health worsened leading him to use crutches, he slowly lost the ability to write, and in 1969 he was confined to a wheelchair. In 1985, Hawking caught pneumonia and required tracheotomy, and would never speak again. Stephen Hawking was known for his sense of humor but he was also known for his independency, his disease did not affect his will to learn, in fact when he lost his ability to write he adapted to visual methods—seeing equations in terms of geometry.

Stephen Hawking has a positive and very strong outlook on life; one time when he was at the hospital he witnessed a boy, in a bed opposite to his, die from leukemia. From that point on, he always remembered that young boy and never took advantage of life or felt sorry for himself. Hawking travels, lectures, and Hawking had the opportunity to go on zero gravity flight, experience weightlessness, and was able to do acrobatic moves.

 Despite the difficulties Stephen Hawking has had due to ALS, he has “overcome” his disability through the use of technology. Hawking can no longer speak, but has special computers to allow him to communicate with the world.  Stephen Hawking has been quite often asked, “How do you feel about having ALS?” Hawking’s answer is, “Not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not many.” Hawking has lived with ALS most of his life, but never let his disease prevent him from living his life.

 Stephen Hawking was born on the 300 th anniversary of Galileo’s death (January 8, 1942).  Stephen Hawking is a remarkably smart man, but when he was younger he didn’t do so well in school, at one point he ranked three spots from the bottom of his class.  Stephen Hawking’s father wanted him to study medicine.  Stephen Hawking was a Coxswain in the rowing team at Oxford.  Stephen Hawking was given a few years to live, after being diagnosed with ALS. He is now 71 years old.  In 1979, Hawking attained the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in England. The chair dates all the way back to 1663, and the second person to hold it was Sir Isaac Newton.  Stephen Hawking has not been awarded a Nobel Prize

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