Page 37 - Great Elizabethans

From 1979 to 2009, Stephen was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge – an important post Isaac Newton had held in the past, as well as Ada Lovelace’s mentor Charles Babbage!
STUDYING THE UNIVERSE
After he graduated, Stephen went on to Cambridge University in 1962, where he studied cosmology – the study of how the universe first came to be and how it might end. However, the year Stephen turned 21, he had some terrible news. Doctors told him that he had a disease
called ALS that would gradually take away his ability to move and speak. Many people who got ALS didn’t live for very long. Stephen was
told he might only have another two years left to live. He felt miserable and depressed. What was the point in continuing his studies?
But Stephen proved the doctors wrong. In 1962, he met Jane Wilde, another student, and fell in love with her. He realised that if he and Jane wanted to get married, he would need to finish studying and get a job – so he did. His brilliance meant he was quickly given a research post at a college, and he would continue to work mostly in Cambridge, studying,
teaching, and coming up with new ideas, for the rest of his long life. As he became less mobile, he began to use an electric wheelchair – but he was rather a wild driver! He
liked to dance in his chair at parties – and once even crashed and broke his hip while moving at speed.
ALWAYS QUESTIONS TO ASK
Stephen was particularly interested in the study of black holes, mysterious parts of space where the force of gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from them, not even light. His theories about them – including the idea that they gave off radiation (which would later be called 'Hawking radiation')
– helped scientists understand more about these strange objects. He also developed ideas about how the world began and searched for a theory that would explain everything in the universe – though he eventually decided humans could never develop this theory, because they couldn’t see all of reality clearly enough. To him, this was a good thing – it meant that there would always be questions to ask.
In 1985 Stephen caught pneumonia on a trip to CERN (the European Centre for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. The infection nearly killed him, and it left him unable to talk. After that, Stephen spoke with the help of a computer that he worked with a muscle in his cheek.
Stephen wanted his work to be read and understood by everyone, not just scientists. In 1988, his book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes was published. It has now sold more than 10 million copies!
By the time Stephen died in 2018, at the age of 76 – an incredible 55 years after he was first diagnosed with ALS – he had been awarded a huge number of prizes and medals. He had helped us learn
more about the universe we live in and the kinds of questions science can ask – and answer.
In his autobiography My Brief History, Stephen said of his life: “It has been a glorious time to be alive. I’m happy if I have added something to our understanding of the universe.”
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