Deutsche Welle, 8 January 2012
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Most people die within a few years
of a ALS diagnosis
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Possibly
the most famous physicist since Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, has turned
70. Bound to a wheelchair by an incurable motor neurone disease, he is regarded
by many as the greatest genius of our day.
Retired
Cambridge Professor Stephen Hawking has lived his life defying expectations.
Diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 he was given two years to live.
Now almost 50 years on the physicist is celebrating his 70th birthday.
At the age
of 20, the Cambridge student had just
embarked on his doctoral studies when he was diagnosed with a fatal and
extremely rare disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The disease
soon confined Hawking to a wheelchair. He lost the use of his voice and became
reliant on a machine to speak. But with two marriages, three children and a
meteoric academic career, few can argue that the physicist has led an active
life both privately and professionally.
The scientist
has often confessed that although gifted as a student he was lazy. It wasn't
until his diagnosis that he began to concentrate on his studies. His work paid
off and in 1979 he was appointed Lucasian Professor at Cambridge University - a
chair once held by Sir Isaac Newton.
It was
while working at Cambridge that Hawking developed some of his most important
contributions to physics.
Groundbreaking
discoveries
Using
Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, he proved that the Big Bang
must been triggered some 14 billion years ago with a so-called
"singularity"- an unimaginable tiny dot that the current formulas and
laws still do not grasp.
His most
beloved area of focus, however, proved to be black holes - the galactic
monsters whose gravity devours anything that gets close to them. In one of his
most important discoveries, he found that back holes do not have an infinite
life span. In a theory now known as "Hawking radiation," he found
that black holes emit radiation causing them to evaporate slowly.
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Hawking revolutionized our understanding
of black holes and the Big Bang
|
Without any
definitive proof of his theory, however, Hawking has not been awarded the Nobel
Prize for Physics. "One could measure the outgoing radiation from black
holes, but unfortunately, there seem to be none in our area," he said.
In spite of
a lack of conclusive evidence, most experts are convinced of the existence of
Hawking radiation.
It was
"a discovery which will still be relevant in hundreds of years," said
Bruce Allen, director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in
Hanover and one of Hawking's former students. "There are few discoveries
quite like this."
But is
Hawking really - as many people have suggested - a second Albert Einstein? Not
according to some of his academic colleagues.
"Hawking's
contributions are certainly not as significant as those of Einstein," said
Klaus Fredenhagen a physics professor from the University of Hamburg.
"With the theory of relativity, Einstein discovered something completely
new, which was previously unknown."
Hawking is
indeed known best for working within the context of existing theories and
making important advances therein.
Fundamental
physics made easy
Above all,
Hawking stands out for his success in making cosmology palatable to a wide
audience.
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In 2007 Hawking abandoned his wheelchair
for the first time in 40 years
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In 1988 he
published his book "A Brief History of Time." It soon became the most
successful popular-science work of all time. Although the material is far from
simple, the book sold millions of copies worldwide.
Already an
established figure in the field of science, he went on to co-author a series of
children's of books with his daughter Lucy.
The Briton
also knows how to market himself. Among a number of fictional cameos, he has
featured in the science-fiction series "Star Trek" where he won a
game of poker against Einstein and Newton.
In April
2007 he also fulfilled a life-long wish to experience a state of absolute
weightlessness. Pictures of the genius during a NASA zero-gravity flight spread
around the world. Once the space simulator had landed Hawking declared,
"Space - here I come."
Defying
disease
That he
embarked on such an excursion at a late stage in life is nothing short of a
medical miracle. "I've known him since 1980," Allen said. "I
never thought that Stephen would live quite as long."
As a
scientist, Hawking's colleagues have described him as extremely
"intense." From a young age he was unable to scribble his formulas on
paper or on boards, as many other physicists are known to do. Instead, in a
show of his extreme capacity for concentration, he performed the highly complex
calculations in his head.
"He is
extremely friendly and approachable, even though he is so famous," said
Fay Dowker, one of Hawking's former doctoral students and now a physicist at
Imperial College London.
Remembering
how she once went into the Institute with a newly shaven head she recalled
"Hawking just grinned at me and asked 'Fay, why did you pick a fight with
a lawnmower?'"
Author: Frank Grotelüschen / ccp
Editor: Sean Sinico
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(According to Gaia is Stephen Hawking an incarnation of Sir Isaac Newton, confirmed in a channeling thru Pepper Lewis in the Shirley Maclaine Radio Show 2, including explanations of BP Oil spill, Dark Matter, God/God/Local God..., ET Disclosure, 3/5/7 dimensions, Money, Currencies ... etc.)
"Spiritual Logic" - Oct 15 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)
(Subjects: Benevolent Design, Channelling, Holy scriptures, Higher self, (Old) Souls, Universes, Big Bang, Galaxy/Solar system build for life, Astronomy, Life on Earth tried to start 5 times/ 5th time life started, Large Animals/No Humans, Asteroid belt, 7 Sisters / 100.000 year ago Pleiadian Brothers and Sisters seeded Humans on earth, DNA, Humans Ascensiont with PleiadianDNA, Lemuria (Hawaii), 21-12-2012, 26.000 years cycle, 1987 - Harmonic convergence (11:11), Shift of Human Consciousness, Gaia, The Humanization of God, 1991 Russia falls, 1994 started 36 years galactic window (Presession), Mid point on 21-12-2012, Lemuria (Hawaii) center of the Earth time, Love (Mother & Child), Religion, Higher self, Global Unity,..... etc.) - New !
