Hawking dedicated life to solving mysteries of universe

By Umur Kocak Semiz and Mustafa Deveci

ANKARA

Stephen Hawking, one of the most important scientists of the world, passed away at the age of 76 early Wednesday.

He was born in Oxford, England, on Jan. 8, 1942.

When he was just 22-years-old, doctors told Hawking, who suffered from a rare disease that gradually paralyzed him, that he would live for only a few more years.

The “miracle man” of the science world, however, went on to live for decades and proved his mettle as one of the brightest and most renowned scientists of his time on earth.

He was best known for his theories on time, black holes and relativity.

Hawking had ALS, which left him severely paralyzed to the point that he was unable to even communicate without computer aid. He spent a huge part of his life bound to a wheelchair, but despite that he had continued his scientific studies.

In 2014, Hawking’s awe-inspiring life dedicated to science was turned into a film, The Theory of Everything, which earned Eddie Redmayne an Oscar for his role in portraying the famous physicist.

Education

Hawking's father wanted to send him to the University of Westminster for a better education, but he could not attend scholarship exam due to his illness. Later, he joined the University of Oxford's Physics Department.

After his graduation at the age of 20, he pursued his masters in cosmology at the University of Cambridge, which he completed in 1965 after submitting his thesis titled “Properties of Expanding Universes”; later, he started working as a research assistant at the university.

In 1966, Hawking was awarded the Adams Prize, one of the most prestigious awards given by the University of Cambridge, for his research "Singularities and the Geometry of Spacetime".

In 1979, Hawking became the Lucasian Professor at the University of Cambridge.

A life bound to computer

In 1963, he was diagnosed with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is a motor neurone disease, and was given two years to live.

But he went on to study at Cambridge and continued his studies with the help of his wife at the time.

Hawking, who became dependent on a wheelchair, suffered from pneumonia during his visit to CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland in 1985. His wife had turned down a proposal to take him off life support unit when he fell ill. The only remaining option, tracheotomy, then destroyed Hawking's ability to speak.

In 1986, Walter Woltozs developed a computer program called “Equalizer” especially for Hawking. He used the program to communicate with others for the rest of his life.

Black holes

In 1970s, he attracted the attention of the science world by suggesting that black holes were spreading energy.

Hawking, in his article published in 1975, said black holes were spreading grains and for this reason, they were losing mass.

The “Hawking radiation” claim created a big discussion in the science world.

In 1988, Hawking published his famous book “Brief History of Time”, which expanded on his ideas on the Big Bang theory, black holes and string theory.

The book sold 25 million copies around the world and took its place as one of the most read science books.

His books, such as “The Grand Design”, “Universe in a Nutshell”, “Black Holes and Baby Universes” have been translated into more than 40 languages.

In 2013, Hawking received many awards for his memoir “My Brief History”.

Hawking was awarded the "Frontiers of Knowledge" by the BBVA Foundation in 2015, for his discovery that at the beginning, the universe originated from quantum alterations of galaxies.

In 2016, the "Pride of Britain" award was given to Hawking for his contributions to science and British culture.

Warning to humanity

Hawking warned that mankind must abandon Earth within 100 years and find themselves a new place to live.

He had also criticized the U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies on global warming and warned it further heightened threat to Earth.

Hawking also warned that artificial intelligence was a threat to humans that “would end the human race”.

Family life

Hawking first married his sister’s friend Jane Wilde in 1965, with whom he had three children: Robert, Lucy and Timothy.

The couple divorced in 1995, when Hawking had an affair with his nurse Elaine Mason. He married Mason in the same year, but they also got divorced in 2006.