Running head: The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking.

Gabriel Lopez
Salt Lake Community College

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most influential scientists of our time. He is widely known
for his work regarding black holes and various other work in philosophy, mathematics and
theoretical physics. He has also published various books in his lifetime. Though, this essay is
going to focus around Stephens early life and the beginning stages of his battle with ALS or
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Stephen was born on January 8th, 1942 in Oxford England to Frank and Isobel Hawking.
Galileo died exactly three hundred years before Hawking was born something Stephen takes
great pride in. He was born at a time when all of England was under the stress of World War II
and the bombardment of German artillery. Despite these dangers, the Hawkings had their second
child, Mary in 1943. Later having their third child, Philippa in 1947 and would adopt their last
child, Edward in 1956 (H).
Stephens father was a respected medical researcher specializing in tropical diseases and
his mother was one a the few women who were able attend Oxford University in the 1930s.
Stephen and his sibling were born into an educated family often described as eccentric
(Special). However, in 1950 Stephens father became the head of parasitology for the National
Institute for Medical Research and moved the Hawking family to St. Albans, Hertfordshire in
south England.
Stephen attended the St. Albans school where he was a below average student. Hovering
near the middle of the class and even fell as low as the third from the bottom. But, he was still
able to acquire the nickname Einstein from his peers. Stephens Sister Mary said Stephen was
very bright our father made me a doll house, so Stephen put in plumping and lighting (H).

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

During his middle school years Stephens father wanted him to attend Westminster school and
aspire to work in the medical field.
Unfortunately, Westminster was extremely expensive. The only way Stephen would be
able to get in required scholarship assistance. But, on the day of the scholarship exam he was
sick and unable to attend. He remained at St. Albans school where he took a strong liking to
mathematics. Stephen and his friends even made a computer out of recycled parts that solved
rudimentary math equations (Biography). He desired to get a degree in mathematics, despite his
fathers aspirations.
Unfortunately, Oxford University did not offer a degree in mathematics. So, Stephen and
his father agreed to a degree in Natural Sciences. Specifically, in Physics. Stephen from a young
age was mesmerized by the stars and now he could begin his journey to re-write cosmology as it
was in the early 1960s. Stephen graduated St. Albans and would start attending Oxford
University in 1959 (Biography). Entering the institution at the young age of seventeen.
`Stephens first year and a half at Oxford was difficult. He was younger than most of his
peers and did not put much effort into his studies. He calculated that the three years he attended
Oxford University, he only spent about an hour a day studying (H). But, Stephens final year in
Oxford was blindside by unexplained slurred speech, vertigo and loss of consciousness. He
happened to fall down a flight of stairs and was knocked unconscious, however he ignored his
symptoms.
Stephen neglected to tell his family about the recent problems he was experiencing. He
graduated from Oxford in 1962, with first-class honors degree in Natural Sciences and planned
to attend the Trinity Hall at Cambridge University to acquire a PhD in Cosmology (Special). But,

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

upon Stephens return home for the Christmas holiday, he was no longer able to hide is
symptoms from this family.
Stephen was first taken to his family doctor, where he was referred to a specialist in
London. After a few weeks of testing, the doctors had a diagnosis and outcome looked grim. He
was diagnosed with ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at the early age of twenty-one. This
debilitating disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the
brain and the spinal cord The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS
eventually leads to their death. (ALSA). The doctors gave Stephen a two to three-year life
expectancy.
At first Stephen was reluctant to talk about his diagnosis. He spent a lot of time alone and
fell into a slight depression. His condition began to worsen rather rapidly, forcing Stephen to
require a walking cane. Fortunately, Stephen attended a New Years party in 1963 and met a
woman named Jane Wilde (Biography). Shortly after, the two fell in love and the disease began
to slow its pace.
Jane said we were going to defy the disease and challenge the future (H). In October
1964 Stephen proposed to Jane and she accepted. Getting engaged was the fire he need to fuel
his work and pull him out of his depression. If he was to get married, he had to get a job, to get a
job, he had to finish his PhD.
There were two highly debated theories in 1965, the Steady State theory and the Big
Bang theory. Stephen used the physicist Rodger Penroses work on what happened to a star when
it collapses on its self because of its own gravity. He called his theory the space-time singularity,
where the star would condense its self to a tiny point of infinite density and time would cease.
The heart of a black hole. Stephen tried to take this singularity and apply it to the whole universe.

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

Stephen figured it out, the universe was a singularity too. It was spontaneously created,
concluding that the universe was created in a Big Bang and that the laws of nature suggest no
hand of God in the creation of the universe. Stephen then applied for a research fellowship at
Gonville and Caius College. He was approved, and he would use the money from the fellowship
to marry Jane.
At last, Stephen and Jane were wed on July 14, 1965 (Special). The two newlyweds spent
their honeymoon at a physics conference at Cornell University. After their return, the two would
spend the next months preparing Stephens PhD thesis. Stephen admires Jane for the hours that
she spent helping him type his thesis paper. The finding in his thesis helped to promote his name
in the Cosmology industry and strengthen his lingering desire to understand the inner most
working of universe.
To conclude, Stephen has managed to defy the odds and continues to thrive today. His
disease has bound him to a wheelchair, with nearly no muscle movement but, the slightest twitch
of is cheek. He uses this twitch to communicate through a computer to his students, audiences at
lectures, family and friends. He continues to teach and work on theories at Cambridge University
in England. Stephen said keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival (H).

The Early Life of Stephen Hawking

References
Biography. com Editors. (2016, May 16). Stephen Hawking Biography. Retrieved November 27,
2016, from Biography.com website, http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking9331710#early-life
ALSA. (2016, November 16). About ALS. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from
http://www.alsa.org/about-als/
H. (2015). Retrieved November 23, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEtofitkuE
Special Education Degree. Net. (2013, April 13). Stephen hawking: A brief history of his life
and times - special education degrees. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from www.specialeducation-degree.net, http://www.special-education-degree.net/stephen-hawking/