Singularities In The Theory Of General Relativity example essay topic

Stephen William Hawking Stephen William Hawking was born January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England and showed great talents in mathematics and physics at a very young age. In high school Hawking's mathematics teacher inspired him to specialize in mathematics but his father was against the idea and Hawking ended up specializing in chemistry during high school. He entered Oxford University in 1958 and had specialized in thermodynamics, relativity theory, and quantum mechanics. He was known for being lazy during collage but no one criticized his talents. "The prevailing attitude at Oxford at that time was very anti-work. You were supposed to be brilliant without effort, or accept your limitations and get a fourth-class degree.

To work hard to get a better class of degree was regarded as the mark of a grey man - the worst epithet in the Oxford vocabulary". From Oxford, he moved to Cambridge to research general relativity and cosmology, and during the last years of Oxford he started feeling irregularities in his body. His mother suggested he see a doctor and in 1963 after two weeks of test, doctors diagnosed him with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). His condition deteriorated quickly and doctors predicted he will not live to finish collage. This is when he realized the importance of his life and his great talent and made great progress in his research. ."..

I therefore started working for the first time in my life. To my surprise I found I liked it". His disease took away all of his ability to speak and move but luckily it did not affect his brain so he was able to continue his research but made it necessary for him to solve all of his very complex calculations in his head. He completed his doctorate in 1966 fellowship at Gon ville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1973 he left the Institute of Astronomy and joined to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge. He became Professor of Gravitational Physics at Cambridge in 1977.

In 1979 Hawking was appointed Luc asian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. It was the chair Isaac Newton sat in 200 years earlier. Between 1965 and 1970 Hawking worked on singularities in the theory of general relativity devising new mathematical techniques to study this area of cosmology. From his study in singularities he began researching black holes. He made many remarkable discoveries and in 1970 using quantum theory and general relativity, he was able to show that black holes can emit radiation.

He also started an interest in the creation of the universe and predicted objects heavy as 109 tons but only a size of a proton can be created... that both time and space are finite in extent, but they don't have any boundary or edge... there would be no singularities, and the laws of science would hold everywhere, including at the beginning of the universe". Hawking was given a computer that enabled him to have an electric voice and he published a book, A Brief History of Time in 1988, a book explaining his cosmological theories in everyday language. It became an instant best seller and was in the The Sunday Times best sellers list for 237 weeks breaking the record of 184 weeks, getting the book into the Guiness Book of Records. The book was sold in 33 languages selling 9 million copies. It was later produced into a movie, making him a celebrity scientist.

Hawking has made and still makes great contributions to the area of cosmology and now combines family life (he has three children and one grandchild), and his research and lectures around the world.