Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking,  born 8 January 1942 is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. Hawking has a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that has gradually paralysed him over the decades. He is now in weelchair and communicates a speech-generating device.

 In 1970, Hawking postulated what became known as the second law of black hole dynamics, that the event horizon of a black hole (the boundary where nothing can escape). His results, which Hawking presented from 1974, showed that black holes emit radiation, known today as Hawking radiation, which may continue until they exhaust their energy and evaporate, along with other theories about black holes.

With an IQ over 160, Hawking developed tenth of other theories about space and physics.

Hawking also wrote a lot of books for kids and adults, such as The Universe in a Nutshell, Black Holes and Baby Universes and the famous kids series George’s secret key and he appeared in movies

Hawking has expressed concern that life on Earth is at risk from a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, global warming, or other dangers we have not yet thought of. However, such a planet-wide disaster doesn’t mean a  human extinction if the human race were to be able to colonise additional planets before the disaster. Hawking views spaceflight and the colonisation of space as necessary for the future of humanity.

The world would have been poor without him!