A physicist in a wheelchair with a computer. Stephen Hawking - biography, information, personal life

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, UK. The father of the future scientist, Frank, was engaged in research activities at the medical center in Hampstead, and his mother, Isabelle, worked in the same center as a secretary. In addition, the Hawkings also had two daughters, Philip and Mary. The Hawkings adopted another child, Edward.

Biography of scientist Stephen Hawking

Hawking graduated from the university in his native Oxford, with a bachelor's degree in 1962. In 1966 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), graduating from Trinity Hall College at the University of Cambridge.

In the early 60s, Hawking was diagnosed with a disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - which began to progress rapidly, and soon led to complete paralysis. In 1965, Stephen Hawking marries Jane Wilde, who bore him two sons and a daughter.

In 1974 Stephen Hawking received permanent membership of the Royal Society of London for the Advancement of Natural Knowledge.

In 1985, Hawking underwent a throat operation, after which the scientist almost completely lost the ability to speak, since then the scientist has been communicating with the help of a speech synthesizer that was developed for him and presented by friends. Also, a slight mobility remained for some time in the index finger on right hand scientist. But soon only one of the facial muscles of the cheek remained mobile in Hawking's body; through a sensor installed opposite this muscle, Stephen Hawking controls a special computer that allows the scientist to communicate with those around him.

Stephen Hawking predicted the end of the world

In 1991, Hawking divorced his first wife, and in 1995 married a woman who had previously been a nurse of a scientist, Elaine Manson, and was married to her until October 2006 (11 years), after which he divorced his second wife ..

Almost complete paralysis of Hawking's body is not an obstacle for a scientist who prefers to lead rich life. So, in April 2007, Stephen Hawking experienced the conditions of flight in zero gravity, making a trip on a special aircraft, and in 2009 he was even going to fly into space.

According to the scientist, it is interesting that he, being a professor of mathematics, does not have an appropriate mathematical education. Even as a teacher at Oxford, he had to go through the textbook that his students studied, ahead of those in knowledge by only a few weeks.

Stephen Hawking and discoveries "on a dare"

The field in which Stephen Hawking, a scientist, was realized, is cosmology and quantum gravity. The main achievements in these areas can be called the study of thermodynamic processes occurring in black holes, the discovery of the so-called. "Hawking radiation" (a phenomenon developed by Hawking in 1975, which describes the "evaporation" of black holes), putting forward an opinion about the process of disappearance of information inside black holes (in a report dated 21.07.2004).

Stephen Hawking warned mankind

Stephen Hawking and another scientist, Kip Thorne, made a bet in 1974. The subject of the dispute was the nature of the space object called Cygnus X-1 and its radiation. Thus, Hawking, contradicting his own research, insisted that the object was not a black hole. Admitting his defeat, in 1990, Hawking gave the winnings to the winner. It's funny that the rates of scientists were very piquant. Hawking was pitting a year's worth of the Penthouse erotic magazine against a 4-year subscription to the satirical magazine Private Eye.

Another bet that Hawking made in 1997, already paired with K. Thorne, against Professor J. Preskill, served as an impetus for the scientist’s revolutionary research and report in 2004. So, Preskill believed that in the waves emitted by black holes, there is some information, but people are unable to decipher it. To which Hawking objected to him, relying on his own research in 1975, that such information was not possible to detect, because. it enters a universe parallel to ours. In 2004, at a conference on cosmology in Dublin, Hawking presented to scientists a new revolutionary theory about the nature of a black hole, recognizing the correctness of his opponent Preskill. In his theory, Hawking concluded that information in black holes did not disappear without a trace, but was significantly distorted, and one day it would leave the hole along with radiation.

Hawking - popularizer of science

Stephen Hawking is also known as an active popularizer of science. His first popular scientific work was the book " Short story time" (1988), which is still a bestseller.

In 2005, the popularizer republished his “Brief History ...”, inviting Leonard Mlodinov as a co-author. The book was published under the title The shortest history time." In collaboration with his daughter Lucy, Hawking published a non-fiction book for children, George and the Secrets of the Universe (2006).

The scientist also gave a lecture at the White House in 1998. There he gave a scientifically optimistic forecast for humanity for the next 1000 years. The statements of 2003 were less inspiring, in which he advised humanity to immediately move to other inhabited worlds, from viruses threatening our survival.

Stephen Hawking Awards

For his scientific research, Stephen Hawking was awarded a huge number of awards and prizes, such as: the Einstein Medal (1979), the Order of the British Empire (1982), the Order of the Knights of Honor (1989), the Fundamental Physics Prize (2013) and many others.

Death

On March 14, 2018, Stephen Hawking passed away. He was 76 years old. He died at his home in Cambridge. The scientist's three children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, made the following statement:

Stephen Hawking and Jan Wilde

Stephen Hawking is a scientist, popularizer of science and one of the most famous physicists of our time, suffering from a serious illness from his youth. But this did not stop him from playing two weddings and becoming the father of three children. And both of his wives are unusual women who evoke conflicting feelings among those who study Hawking's biography.

Stephen Hawking's first wife

Hawking's first marriage was to Jan Wilde. She was a girl from an ordinary English family who studied at Oxford at the Faculty of Foreign Literature. The exact circumstances of their acquaintance with the scientist are unknown, according to some sources - Jen was friends with Stephen's sister.
Now it is difficult to judge what exactly attracted the young and beautiful girl in Hawking, but they got married in 1965, when Stephen had already been diagnosed with a serious diagnosis and the doctors predicted that he would die in the year of their wedding. But Jen was able to save her husband from depression, and the disease progressed not so quickly. Perhaps then the girl saved her husband for the first time.

Hawking's first wife truly loved him

Hawking's first wife, Jan Wilde

The first years of their marriage were quite happy, the couple traveled together, and Hawking showed great promise in science and earned enough money to support his family. Two years after the wedding, their first child was born, a year later - the second, and a year later - the third. Jen herself at this time continued her studies and also tried to do science, studying literature.

Problems in marriage began with the birth of a third child. Stephen Hawking by that time was very weak and moved not just with a stick, but was chained to a chair. The wife was forced to fully care for both her husband and three small children, and she already fell into depression. Fortunately, Hawking continued to work, and the family was relatively well off, but fatigue from a very difficult household life ruined the marriage.

Doctors set another maximum term for Stephen, and this forced Jen Wilde (by that time Jen Hawking long ago) to think about the life of children after the possible death of Hawking. As a result, she decided to find a man who can help after the death of her husband, and even now.

They became the musician Jonathan Jones (by the way, she is now married to him), a friend of Hawking. If you call a spade a spade, Jen settled her lover in their house, which dealt a heavy blow to Stephen. But in reality, he understood that this step was quite reasonable and justified, although it was hard for him to be in this situation. But at the same time, Jen did not change her attitude towards Hawking, continued to look after him and treated him very well.

Stephen Hawking with his wife and children

In 1985, the wife saved Hawking's life for the second time, and this case best characterizes her attitude towards her husband. Stephen became seriously ill with pneumonia (that's when his trachea was removed and he stopped talking), the doctors urged his wife, who was the only one responsible for a possible decision, to disconnect him from life support machines. Hawking at that time was a very wealthy man, a millionaire, his entire fortune would have passed to his wife, but she insisted on continuing treatment and did not even consider the option of disconnecting her husband from the devices. As a result, Hawking survived and, despite a significantly worsened condition, is still engaged in scientific activities today, almost 20 years later.

As a result, the marriage of Jen Wilde and Stephen Hawking fell apart

But from that moment on, one important change took place in their marriage - Jen and her lover decided to hire nurses for Hawking. One of them was Elaine Jane, at that time the wife of an engineer who made a speech synthesizer for Stephen and who himself recommended it. As a result, feelings arose between Elaine and Stephen, and the marriage with Jen came to an end. They divorced in 1995, although Hawking moved out of Jen and Jonathan 5 years earlier.
On the one hand, it was a boon for Jen - her husband found new love, and she was able to legitimize her relationship with Jonathon Jones. But actually Jen didn't approve new marriage Hawking, and not without reason.
To date, Jen continues to live with her second husband, sometimes acts in films, has released several biographies dedicated to her first husband and their marriage.

Hawking's second wife - Elaine Jane

Stephen Hawking and his second wife Elaine Jane

If few people doubt Jen's sincere feelings, despite all life's difficulties, then, according to most people, the second wife of the scientist married him solely by calculation. This is a woman with red hair, who in public behaved extremely defiantly, trying too hard to convince everyone around her of her love for Stephen.
In 1995, she convinced Hawking to legalize the relationship, having lived with him for almost 5 years before that. Interestingly, neither the children nor the first wife came to the wedding. Perhaps Stephen himself was happy, as he later said - their love was stormy and passionate.

The details of the second marriage, which broke up in 2006, are almost unknown. They say that first of all, Elaine fired all the other nurses and hired new ones, and the main selection criterion was not professional qualities, but the ability to control them and keep them away from her husband.

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. And the most famous scientist in the world, according to the verdict of physicians, should have died 50 years ago.

“Only losers are interested in their own IQ”

“We are just advanced apes on a small planet with an unremarkable star. But we have a chance to comprehend the Universe. That's what makes us special." These words belong to the one whom many respected and authoritative scientists from different continents consider the best mind of mankind at the turn of the second and third millennium.
The British theoretical physicist is not just busy learning about the structure of the Universe, he, acting as a popularizer of science, is trying to convey knowledge to the general public. In April 1988, Hawking released the best-selling book A Brief History of Time (From the Big Bang to Black Holes) - a kind of textbook on the structure of the Universe, space and time "for dummies".
“My goal is very simple. I want to understand the Universe, why it is arranged the way it is, and why we are here, ”this is how the scientist explains his aspirations. If you think that the task of comprehending the laws of the universe is the lot of people with high IQ, then Stephen Hawking has a ready answer for this: “I have no idea what my IQ is. Those who are interested in it are just losers.
This outstanding scientist with an incredible sense of humor has not been talking to humanity in the way we are used to for many years. And the point here is not pride - due to a serious illness, the only way for Hawking to communicate is a computer with a speech synthesizer.

Death sentence at 21.

He was born in 1942 in Oxford, where his parents moved from London - the city was regularly attacked by Nazi aircraft. Stephen's father, Frank Hawking, worked as a researcher at the Hampstead Medical Center. His mother, Isabelle, worked there as a secretary.
From childhood he looked like a scientist - not a very foldable figure, glasses and the nickname "Scribe" for excessive interest in scientific debates that are boring, from the point of view of peers. At the same time, Stephen was never the first student at school. His abilities and interests were limited to mathematics, physics and chemistry, and he was indifferent to other subjects.
In 1959, he became a student at Oxford University, but he did not show much zeal there either. Study and scientific activity at that time he devoted an hour a day. “I'm not proud of this lack of work, I'm only describing my attitude to study, which was fully shared by most of my fellow students. In Cambridge, you were already expected to be a brilliant student without effort, otherwise you could accept your limitations and graduate after high school', Hawking recalled.
He was engaged in cosmology, intending to discover the secrets of the universe, but did not know that a time bomb was ticking inside him. Stephen suddenly noticed that he began to stumble too often and for no reason. I turned to the doctors, and after the examination, they issued a verdict - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This is an incurable disease of the central nervous system which leads to paralysis and atrophy of all the muscles of the body. Inevitable death comes from respiratory failure.
Hawking, 21, was told he had two years to live. Well, at most two and a half.

Wheelchair and three children.

There was a dissertation that had been started on the table ... But is it needed now? Hawking decided: a must. He should have time to do at least something of what he planned. And the race against time began, when the body listened worse and worse every day.
In the midst of this struggle, Hawking met the charming girl Jane and fell in love. He wanted not only to live longer, he wanted to start a family. But how can a beauty reciprocate a bespectacled man completely immersed in physics, sentenced by doctors?
Jane Wilde not only answered, she became his muse and assistant. But in order to marry Jane, Stephen Hawking had to do two things - get a job, for which he had to finish his dissertation, having achieved an advanced degree, and not die.

In 1965, according to the verdict of doctors, Stephen Hawking was expected to be buried. The young scientist replaced them with a wedding, to which he came with his own feet, albeit leaning on a cane. He could not overcome his illness, but he fought it desperately. In 1967, she forced him to take crutches, Hawking answered her with the birth of her first child. He was already chained to wheelchair, but he and Jane had a daughter and another son.
Stephen Hawking traveled all over the world, worked with scientists different countries. His scientific work struck as much as his courage. In 1973, Hawking came to the USSR, where he discussed the problems of black holes with the leading Soviet experts in this field, Yakov Zeldovich and Alexei Starobinsky.

Synthesizer instead of voice.

In the early 1980s, Professor Hawking and Professor Jim Hartle proposed a model of the universe that has no cosmic boundaries or time. It is this model that is described in the world bestseller (25 million copies sold worldwide) A Brief History of Time.
Once at a meeting of the Royal Society, Hawking interrupted a lecture by the famous astrophysicist Fred Hoyle to point out an error in his answer before the problem was solved. When the professor asked how Hawking noticed the mistake, he said: "I just already solved the problem in my mind."
The world recognized him as a genius, but even this recognition could not restore his health. In 1985, he was struck down by pneumonia, a disease that is often fatal when diagnosed with Hawking. The scientist got out this time too, but because of the operation, he forever lost the ability to speak.

“I would raise an eyebrow when someone showed me alphabet cards in a row. It was very slow. I could not carry on a conversation and, of course, I could not write a scientific paper, Hawking recalled. “Fortunately, I still have enough strength in my hand to press and release the small switch. This switch is connected to a computer, on the screen of which the cursor moves all the time. It helps me select words from a list that appears on the screen. The words I have already selected are displayed at the top of the screen. When I have built the phrase completely, I send it to the sound synthesizer. The synthesizer I use is quite old, 13 years old. But I became very attached to him.”

How Hawking lost his Penthouse subscription.

Over the years, the disease left Stephen Hawking with fewer opportunities. In recent years, mobility has remained only in the mimic muscle of the cheek, opposite which the sensor is fixed. With its help, the physicist controls a computer that allows him to communicate with others. After the operation in 1985 and the loss of speech, Hawking's relationship with his wife gradually worsened. In 1990, after a quarter of a century life together, they began to live separately, and then divorced. And in 1995, the scientist ... married his nurse. The marriage with Elaine Mason lasted 11 years, after which the physicist broke up with this passion of his.
“But it looks like this guy is paralyzed only from above,” quite healthy men who were not successful with ladies began to write about Hawking’s personal life with some envy.
Back in 1974, Stephen Hawking and his colleague Kip Thorne agreed in a dispute about the nature of the Cygnus X-1 object and the nature of its radiation. Hawking was sure that the object was not a black hole, Thorne was sure of the opposite. In 1990, Hawking admitted that he was wrong and handed Thorn his winnings - a one-year subscription to the men's magazine Penthouse.
For Hawking, the winner of every conceivable and unthinkable awards (with the possible exception of Nobel Prize), such an attitude towards science is completely normal.

Fashionable and unbelieving.

He is perhaps the most fashionable scientist in the world. A man chained to a chair, devoid of speech, according to surveys of English journalists, is one of the most respected people among British youth, along with athletes and music stars. He is regularly mentioned in books, films and even cartoons. In The Simpsons and Futurama, he himself voiced his cartoon image.
Hawking intersperses serious scientific work with popular science books and films. In 2010, Stephen Hawking published the book The Grand Design, where he describes the hypothesis that the existence of God is not necessary to explain the origin and mechanisms of the universe.
Hawking is not militant, but certainly the most influential atheist of our time. The first wife, after the divorce, admitted that she could not come to terms with these views of Stephen. But to argue with Hawking in this case not serious - the scientist knows so much about the Universe that the only worthy opponent in the discussion on this issue for him can only be the Lord himself. “The main enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge,” Hawking notes.
In April 2007, Stephen Hawking again forced the young and healthy people scratching your head, having been in a state of weightlessness, having flown on a special laboratory aircraft, which allows you to create this state for a few seconds under the conditions of gravity.
In 2009, the scientist was going to fly into space, but the flight did not take place. But Hawking himself is convinced that humanity will avoid a global catastrophe and death only if it manages to master interstellar travel. The physicist has no doubt that people will reach the stars.

Never give up.

When Stephen Hawking had already become Stephen Hawking, known to the whole world, amazing things began to be found in his biography. For example, he was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo Galilei. Hawking served as the Lucasian professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge for 30 years - three centuries before him, Isaac Newton held the same post.
Hawking himself, however, refers to all such signs with humor, as well as to all own activities. In the mid-1990s, he said that he did not study mathematics directly after school, which became a problem in the first year of teaching this discipline to students. Mathematics professor Hawking found a simple solution - he read the same textbook as his students, only ahead of them by a couple of weeks.
As you read these lines about Stephen Hawking, know that he is watching you invisibly with disapproval, for: "Browsing the Internet is as brainless an idea as constantly switching TV channels."
On January 8, 2017, Stephen Hawking turned 75 years old. This year, exactly half a century has passed since the term of life allotted to a young student by doctors has expired. The scientist could not defeat his illness, but managed to stretch the fight against it for a lifetime. Life, the fruitfulness and saturation of which can only be envied. “It’s very important to just not give up,” this phrase has been said by many, but from the lips of Stephen Hawking it sounds the most convincing.

Even if you are not the head of a special department for the development of advanced theories in physics, you have probably heard of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking. Most of all, he is known, of course, for the fact that, firstly, he has a brilliant mind and a paralyzed body, secondly, he popularizes complex science, and thirdly, the bestseller A Brief History of Time.

Previously, we have already written in more detail about whether Hawking is a robot or a person for the most part, now let's go through the top ten most curious facts about the famous physicist.

Many find it surprising that despite writing great works, Hawking has yet to win a Nobel Prize. Others say that Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, and that day was the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. But this is a warm-up, there are things more interesting:

Today we know that Hawking has a brilliant mind and is working on theories that to an ordinary person very difficult to understand. Therefore, it may surprise you that Hawking was a slacker at school.

When he was 9 years old, his grades were among the worst in the class. Pushing a little, Hawking raised the scores to average, but not higher.

However, from early childhood, he was interested in how things work around him. Dismantled clocks and radios. However, according to Hawking himself, it was not possible to collect them back.

Despite the poor grades, peers and teachers guessed that a genius was growing up among them, as evidenced by the nickname Hawking gave him at school - Einstein. In connection with the low grades at school, another problem arose: his father wanted to send Hawking to Oxford, but there was no money without a scholarship. Luckily, when it came to scholarship exams, Stephen got a perfect score in physics.

Stephen Hawking was fond of mathematics early age and wanted to know her perfectly. But his father Frank had a different point of view. He wanted to see Stephen as a medical man.

For all his interest in science, Stephen didn't care about biology at all. He said it was "too imprecise, too descriptive." And he would rather devote his mind to clearer and more precise ideas.

However, Oxford did not have a department of mathematics. A compromise was found as follows: Hawking enters physics at Oxford.

But even as a physicist, he focused on big questions. When faced with a choice between elementary particles and the study of their behavior and cosmology, Hawking chose to study the universe. Cosmology was hardly recognized as a full-fledged science, but this did not stop the young genius from choosing this path. Particle physics, as Hawking said, “was like botany. There are particles, but no theory."

Biographer Christine Larsen wrote that during his first year at Oxford, Hawking was isolated and unhappy. But everything changed when he joined the rowing team.

Long before Hawking was struck by a disease that almost completely paralyzed him, the scientist could hardly be called an athlete. But the rowing team needed small people for the role of helmsmen who do not row, but control the steering and pace.

And since rowing was important and popular for Oxfordians, the role that fell to Hawking made him popular. One member of the rowing team called him "an adventurous type."

However, while involved in rowing training six days a week, Hawking began to "mow down" his studies. "Cut serious corners" and use "creative analysis for lab work".

As a graduate student, Stephen Hawking began to experience symptoms of fatigue and clumsiness. The family became worried, and one Christmas holiday insisted that he see a doctor.

Before meeting with the doctor, Hawking celebrated New Year and met his future wife, Jane Wilde. According to her memoirs, in Hawking she was attracted by "a sense of humor and an independent personality."

A week later, he turned 21 years old, and a little later he was admitted to the hospital for a two-week examination. There he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. This is a neurological disease, as a result of which the patient gradually loses control of the muscles. Doctors said he only had a few years to live.

Hawking recalls being shocked and wondering why this happened to him. But when I met a boy in the hospital dying of leukemia, I realized that there are worse things.

Hawking was filled with optimism and began dating Jane. They soon moved in together, and according to Hawking, he had "something to live for."

One of Hawking's major achievements (which he shared with Jim Hartle) was the development of the theory that the universe has no boundaries in 1983.

In 1983, trying to understand the nature and form of the universe, Hawking and Hartley, using the concepts quantum mechanics and Einstein's general theory of relativity showed that the universe has content but no boundaries.

To visualize this, people need to imagine the universe as the surface of the earth. Once on the sphere, we can go in any direction and never reach a corner, edge, or boundary where we can confidently say, “That's it. End". However, the fundamental difference is that the surface of the Earth is two-dimensional (more precisely, its surface), while the Universe has four dimensions.

Hawking explains that space-time is like lines of latitude the globe. Beginning with North Pole(the beginning of the Universe) and following south, the circle grows to the equator, and then decreases. This means that the universe is finite in space-time and will collapse one day - but not before 20 billion years from now. Does this mean that time itself will run backwards? Hawking raised the issue, but decided no, because there is no reason to believe that the principle of entropy, that is, the tendency of ordered energy to turn into chaotic, will change in the opposite direction.

In 2004, the brilliant Hawking admitted that he was wrong and lost the bet he made in 1997 with a scientist friend.

everywhere is huge. Their large mass generates powerful gravity. As the nuclear fuel inside the star burns out, energy is released to counteract gravity. But when a star "burns out", gravity becomes so powerful that the star collapses, collapses into itself, giving birth to a black hole.

Gravity is so powerful that even light cannot escape a black hole. However, in 1975 Hawking stated that black holes are not black. On the contrary, they radiate energy. In doing so, the data disappears into the black hole, which eventually evaporates. The problem is that this idea that information disappears into a black hole contradicts quantum mechanics and creates what Hawking called the “information paradox.”

American theoretical physicist John Preskill disagreed with the conclusion that information is lost in a black hole. In 1997, he made a bet with Hawking, arguing that information simply cannot leave her, which does not contradict the laws of quantum mechanics.

Hawking, as a good athlete, admitted that he was wrong - in 2004. At a scientific conference, the scientist said that since black holes have more than one "topology", and when one contains information released from all topologies, it is not lost.

During his long career in physics, Hawking has amassed an impressive array of awards and distinctions. It is unlikely that they will be replenished with new ones, but let's go through what is already there.

In 1974 he was admitted to the Royal Society (the Royal Academy of Sciences in Great Britain, founded in 1660), and a year later Pope Paul VI awarded him and Roger Penrose the Pius XI Gold Medal of Science. Stephen Hawking also received the Albert Einstein Prize and the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society.

Hawking established himself so well in the scientific community that in 1979 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge in England, a position he would hold for the next 30 years. The position was once held by Sir Isaac Newton.

In 1980 he was ordained a Commander of the British Empire, second only to a knighthood. He also became an honorary member of the society, in which there are no more than 65 members at a time, distinguished themselves before the nation.

In 2009, Hawking received the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Despite the fact that Hawking has been awarded at least 12 honorary degrees, the Nobel Prize eludes him.

One of the least expected facts about Stephen Hawking's life is that he is a children's author. In 2007, Stephen and his daughter Lucy Hawking co-wrote George's Secret Key to the Universe.

This is a fantasy story about a boy, George, who goes against the rejection of technology from his parents. The boy becomes friends with a physicist neighbor who has the most powerful computer in the world and can open portals to outer space.

Of course, most of the book is devoted to explaining hard scientific concepts, such as black holes and the origin of life, in simple childish language. Hence the fame of Hawking as a popularizer, who always tried to explain his works in an accessible language.

The second part of the book was published in 2009 under the title George's Space Treasure Hunt.

Given Hawking's knowledge of cosmology, people are extremely interested in why the great scientist believes that we are not alone in the universe. At the 50th anniversary of NASA in 2008, Hawking was given the floor, and he shared his thoughts on this matter.

The cosmologist noted that given the size of the universe, the existence of even primitive, and perhaps intelligent life is quite acceptable.

"Primitive life is very common," Hawking said. - "Reasonable is a rarity."

Of course, Hawking was not without sarcasm: "Someone can say that life originated on Earth." Even so, he cautioned that alien life may not have originated from DNA, and we may not be immune to alien disease.

Hawking believes that aliens can use the resources of their own planet and "become nomads, conquering and colonizing all the planets they can reach." Or they can create a system of mirrors, focus the energy of the sun at one point and create a "wormhole" for space-time travel.

In 2007, when Hawking was 65, he fulfilled a lifelong dream. He experienced zero gravity and floated in a special chair thanks to Zero Gravity. The corporation provides a service in which people flying on a sharply ascending and descending plane can experience a state of weightlessness for about 25 seconds for several rounds.

Hawking, freed from a wheelchair for the first time in decades, was even able to perform a gymnastic somersault. But the most interesting thing about all this is not what he was able to do, but why. When asked why he needed this flight, he, of course, noted his desire to go to space. But the reasons are much deeper.

Due to the possibility global warming or nuclear war, as Hawking noted, the future human race can take a long flight to outer space. Hawking supports private space exploration (like Elon Musk and SpaceX) in the hope that space tourism will soon enter the public domain. And we can travel to other planets to survive. By the way, not so long ago, the smallest exoplanet was discovered. Perhaps someday there will be human cities on it.

Name: Stephen Hawking (Stephen William Hawking)

Age: 76 years old

Place of Birth: Oxford, UK

A place of death:: Cambridge

Activity: Scientist, theoretical physicist, mathematician

Family status: was divorced

Stephen Hawking - Biography

During World War II, Oxford and Cambridge were the only places in the UK where German bombers did not reach. Frank Hawking chose Oxford and moved there from London with his wife. Soon, on January 8, 1942, Isabelle gave birth to her first child, son Stephen.

The boy grew strong and healthy. Two daughters followed, so Stephen was left to his own devices. He sat for a long time, sorting out old clocks and other mechanisms, he wanted to see how everything worked. It turned out to be much less interesting at school: the teachers are boring, the subjects are boring. Unless mathematics is the only worthwhile science ...

Stephen's parents worked in the field of medicine and were sure that their son would follow in their footsteps. But he rested - mathematics or physics! I had to work hard to get into the university, because at school Stephen was almost the worst student in the class. Although the language did not turn to call the boy stupid. On the contrary, classmates gave him the nickname Einstein - apparently in advance.

Stephen's admission to Oxford was celebrated on a grand scale. Only the young man himself did not appreciate what he had. He was still interested only in the exact sciences. In addition, it turned out that Hawking did not have many friends, and this upset him. True, there was a way out. Rowers were considered the most popular in Oxford, and Stephen became one of them - he took the position of helmsman. It turned out badly, the team lost at competitions, but now everyone knew him by sight, and there was no end to new acquaintances.

At one of the student parties, Stephen met her - the one who could make him forget about friends and rowing. Jane Wilde was not only pretty, but also turned out to be an interesting conversationalist. Well, who else would listen to stories about physical phenomena and recent discoveries? And she listened...

One of the frosty Christmas days of 1962, young Hawking spent on the skating rink. The mood was excellent, the ice slid underfoot, and suddenly ... Everything began to spin, his legs entangled, and Stephen fell backwards. The fall was not the first. Before him, the young man had already happened to fly from the stairs, the porch, to slip out of the blue. Parents insisted on examination, and the doctors issued a disappointing verdict - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This meant that over time, the muscles completely atrophy, and Stephen himself, at best, would remain a "vegetable".

The doctor took the inconsolable mother of the patient aside.

I give him two and a half years, no more.

The main question that Stephen asked himself after he heard the verdict was: "Why me?" And then he suddenly realized how many plans he had. In addition, Jane was nearby, who, having learned about the diagnosis, was not afraid. So, you can continue to live.

Stephen Hawking - personal life

The disease progressed. If Stephen came to his own wedding with a cane, then he met his firstborn already on crutches.

Summed up and speech - became inarticulate.

Meanwhile, a daughter and another son were born. Robert, Lucy and Timothy became the meaning of Hawking's life, his continuation. But it became increasingly difficult for Jane to cope with the children, and even take care of her husband. Fortunately, a modern wheelchair appeared, which Stephen easily controlled. Yes, and students often ran to visit him and help if needed. By that time, Hawking was already a professor of mathematics. It is interesting that for the first time he covered many topics in the textbook almost in parallel with the students, ahead of them by only a couple of weeks.

AT free time Hawking was into science. Most of all he was fascinated by cosmology and black holes, which, according to Stephen, "evaporate", losing energy due to specific radiation. To this day, it is called so - Hawking radiation. The whole scientific world soon learned about the discoveries of the scientist. The awards rained down one after another, Stephen did not expect such recognition.

Despite the obvious difficulties, the Hawking family looked quite happy from the outside.

But only from the side ... Jane is somewhat recent years haunted by the same nightmare: her husband dies, and she is left alone with three children and accumulated problems.

Should we blame her for the fact that one day a woman could not stand it and succumbed to a new feeling? Jonathan Jones, a church choir musician, was strong, healthy, strong. On a voluntary basis, he helped the Hawking family and won Jane's heart in between. Stephen understood what was going on, but... he let things take their course. He himself was afraid that his days were numbered, and he wanted his wife and children not to be left alone.

This triangle could have tormented its participants for a long time, if not for the occasion. In 1985, while in Switzerland, Stephen caught pneumonia. Complicated operations failed, the patient had to undergo a tracheotomy. A tube was now sticking out of his throat, and he could no longer speak. Jane dropped her hands. She helped as much as she could, but her enthusiasm was fading. A few years later, the couple divorced.

Those around him felt sorry for Stephen: who needs him now? To say something, he had to type it with his finger, and the speech synthesizer reproduced what was written. But nurse Elaine Mason understood him without words. Spending day after day with the physicist, the woman became attached to this intelligent and unlike other person. In 1995, they quietly signed.

Over the long 11 years of their life together, Elaine saved Stephen from death several times. She was there when he choked, coughed, lost consciousness. But for her, this burden was too heavy. They divorced, humbly releasing each other.

Stephen Hawking today

Today Stephen Hawking is alone. However, one is not quite correct word. Next to him are his students and colleagues, with whom he never ceases to discuss problems. modern science. He is confident that there are still many discoveries ahead. Children do not leave the scientist - with their daughter Lucy, they jointly wrote a children's book about the boy George and his adventures in the Universe.

73-year-old Hawking is not going to die, because there is still so much to do. After all, he still does not have a Nobel Prize, although he fully deserves it. If the reward was given for willpower, the desire to live and an unshakable spirit, he would undoubtedly have received it long ago.

Death of a scientist