Not so long ago the genius of our time, a man who by his own example has proved that one must always fight for life, should not give way to illness.
Stephen Hawking is called Albert Einstein of our time. Thanks to him, the world learned about many secrets of the universe, and this contributed a lot to the development of human civilization. And, despite the progressing agonizing illness, Hawking was an excellent writer, orator and simply a wonderful person. Once he set himself the goal of making science more accessible to every person, and he managed to achieve this. He passed away on March 14, 2018 at the age of 76 years.
Are you ready to know this genius better? Then here are 25 amazing facts about Stephen Hawking that you did not know before.
1. In his youth Hawking was crazy about mathematics, but his father insisted that his son associate his life with medicine.
Eventually Stephen graduated from Oxford University. He studied physics. Later, in 1978, he became a professor of gravitational physics, and in 1979 - mathematics.
2. You will not believe, but up to 8 years the future scientist could not really read, and, according to him, in Oxford, he was not among the best students.
3. Coincidence or not, but Hawking's birthday (January 8, 1942) coincided with the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo. Moreover, the scientist died on the birthday of Albert Einstein.
4. He dreamed of writing a textbook on physics that would be understandable to the majority. Fortunately, he did it thanks to his speech synthesizer and devoted disciples. In 1988 the world saw the popular science book "A Brief History of Time".
5. In 1963, Hawking began to show signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which led to paralysis. Doctors claimed that he had only 2.5 years to live.
6. After a tracheotomy, Stephen lost his voice and needed round-the-clock care.
Fortunately, in 1985, a Californian programmer created a computer whose sensor was fixed to the mobile facial muscle of the cheek. Thanks to her, the physicist managed the gadget, which allowed him to communicate with people.
7. Hawking was twice married. The first wife gave him two children, but the union with her lasted until 1990. And in 1995 the modern genius married his nurse, with whom he lived for 11 years (in 2006 they divorced).
8. On June 29, 2009, on behalf of Stephen Hawking, invitations to a party that was due on June 28 were sent out.
And no, this is not a typo. This was part of the time travel experiment. It's clear that no one came to the party. Hawking once again proved that time travel is an invention, the basis of the film, but it is certainly not a real fact. He said that his party once again proved that if someone could travel through time, he would do it to get to visit him.
9. In 1966, Hawking defended his thesis on "The properties of expanding universes."
Basically, he tried to show that the beginning of the creation of the universe could put a big explosion. Once it was laid out on the Internet, the site was immediately overloaded with millions of visits from users around the world.
10. Stephen Hawking considered himself an atheist and said that he did not believe in God, nor in the existence of the afterlife. Despite this, he argued that the universe and everyone's life is filled with meaning.
11. The scientist appeared several times in a couple of television shows, among them "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory."
12. What will become the end of humanity according to Hawking's version? This is artificial intelligence, nuclear war, overpopulation, pandemic and climate change. He was in favor of finding a new life on other planets.
13. At the age of 65, Steven flew in a special plane in order to feel the lack of gravity. The whole flight lasted about four minutes.
14. There is a formula called "Hawking equation". It is the basis for understanding black holes. Once Stephen said that he wants it to be engraved on his tombstone.
15. Stephen Hawking, along with his friend Jim Hartle, developed a theory about the infinity of the universe in 1983. This became one of the main achievements in the life of a physicist.
16. Stephen Hawking in 1997 made a bet with John Presqu'll, Stephen William and Kip Thorne on the full edition of the British Encyclopedia, on the matter of preserving information about matter previously captured by a black hole and subsequently emitted by it. As a result, in 2004 the dispute was won by John Presquell.
17. In 1985 he suffered pneumonia and was one foot in the world otherwise. Moreover, the doctors offered his wife to disconnect Hawking from life support devices, to which the spouse replied: "No". Fortunately, the scientist survived and completed the writing of the book "A Brief History of Time".
18. He received several prestigious prizes and awards, including the Albert Einstein Prize, the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society of London, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him by Barack Obama.
19. In addition, Hawking was a children's writer. He and his daughter Lucy wrote a series of children's books, the first of which was called "George and the secrets of the universe."
20. Although Stephen Hawking did not believe in God, he believed in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.
21. Once he said that if humanity came up with how to use the energy of black holes, it could easily replace all of the Earth's energy systems.
22. He refers to those physicists who, like Neal Degrass Tyson, believe that our universe exists in parallel with other civilizations.
23. Stephen Hawking received the world's largest scientific award ($ 3 million) for his achievements in fundamental physics.
24. The income from the books of the scientist is about $ 2 million.
25. Undoubtedly, Stephen Hawking is a modern genius. But the level of its IQ is unknown.
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In an interview with The New York Times about the coefficient of his intelligence, he said:
"No idea. People who do this and that they boast about their IQ, in fact, losers. "