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Remembering Stephen Hawking

Update: 2023-01-08 23:47 IST

Remembering Stephen William Hawking on his birthday, world celebrates 81st birth anniversary of English cosmologist, author, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 76. His research on black holes, Big Bang Theory, is a significant contribution to physics. Stephen Hawking made truly significant advances to our knowledge of gravity, black holes, and cosmology. They started in the 1960s with the singularity theorems, then he found that black holes have an entropy and, as a result, a finite temperature.

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It was expected that black holes would produce thermal radiation, or what is now known as Hawking radiation. He was the first to investigate the origin of black holes and possible cosmological applications. The Nuffield workshop, which he helped to organise and contribute to in 1982, helped to solidify the idea of the large-scale structure of the cosmos first appeared as quantum fluctuations during the inflationary period.

He developed the idea of the universe's wave function through research on how general relativity and quantum physics interact. His troubles with the information paradox relating to the intricate relationships between these major branches of physics were caused by the conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Following Stephen's diagnosis with incurable motor neuron disease during the early years of his studies as a post-graduate student in Cambridge, when he was given two years to live, all of these accomplishments were made. Despite all odds, he continued to live for another 55 years. His work's distinctiveness earned him numerous awards, and he rose to prominence in the public eye while fervently advocating for the interests of those with disabilities. His best-selling book, a brief history of time, introduced cosmology and his own work to a worldwide audience. He rose to fame as an inspiration to all and a symbol of science.

The public's attention was captured by the picture of Stephen Hawking in his motorised wheelchair, with his head slightly twisted to one side and his hands crossed over to operate the controls. Physical limitations appeared to be made up for by almost supernatural abilities, much like the Delphic oracle of ancient Greece. These abilities permitted him to freely explore the cosmos and, on occasion, enigmatically reveal some of its secrets that were hidden from the perspective of normal mortals.

Cambridge University, in 1979, appointed Hawking as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position held by Isaac Newton in 1669. They also released his doctoral thesis to public on its website in the year 2017.

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