Stephen Hawking has left a big black hole in the hearts of millions: people who admired his enormous intellect, his wicked sense of humour, and his extraordinary courage in battling a debilitating medical condition that left him slumped in a wheelchair and communicating via a machine.
The famed British astrophysicist died yesterday in Britain, aged 76. His children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, released a short statement, saying: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today.
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love’. We will miss him for ever.”
Hawking was perhaps best known for his popular science book A Brief History of Time, which sold in the millions and was known by the irreverent as the greatest unread book in history. First published in 1988, it was translated into 40 languages.
Respected in scientific circles for his seminal work on black holes and relativity, Hawking refused to accept the limitations imposed by a condition that afflicted him for much of his life — motor neurone disease.
First diagnosed in 1963 when he was 21, the condition eventually left him almost entirely physically immobile, although his mind roamed far and wide. “With all control of my body gone, I use a program through a cheek muscle attached to a sensor to choose my words,” he once tweeted.
Hawking’s manifold achievements despite his physical difficulties inspired many disabled people to believe that anything was possible, given sufficient optimism and determination.
Although he was forced to use a flat, mechanical-sounding artificial voice, his wicked sense of humour enlivened his conversations and his public appearances. He was first forced to use crutches, and eventually a wheelchair, which he used as a chariot for wild rides through Cambridge, often with one or two of his children running alongside.
Professor Peter Tuthill, from the University of Sydney’s School of Physics, remembers Hawking from his days at Cambridge University.
“Riding home late on our bicycles, my mate crashed into Hawking’s wheelchair — which he drove around at some speed in those days and with no lights — on the quiet streets at the ‘backs’ of the River Cam,” he said. “This put both of them in hospital, and my friend on the front pages for all the wrong reasons.”
Professor Tuthill said he later came to appreciate why Hawking was “such a titan in physics”, as well as more broadly in culture and modern society: because of his profound contributions to any number of important debates, including artificial intelligence, the fair society and the disruptive technologies of the future.
Awarded a range of prizes and honours, Hawking spent most of his working life thinking about the universe. In 1970, he and a colleague extended the mathematics of black holes to the universe and theorised that a singularity was the origin of the big bang. This led to further theories, including the proposal that black holes radiate heat.
Hawking married his first wife, Jane Wilde in 1965, and she cared for him for many years, until their marriage ended in divorce in 1991. The couple’s story was retold in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, which won Britain’s Eddie Redmayne the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of the scientist. Following his divorce, Hawking married his one-time nurse Elaine Mason four years later, but they separated in 2006.
Indomitably brave, Hawking flatly refused to let his life be dictated by motor neurone disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“I am quite often asked: how do you feel about having ALS?” he once wrote. “The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/stephen-hawking-departs-leaves-a-big-black-hole/news-story/6c423dc1980ff9a8ca28614451769a47