Biography

1950

(

10)

11

I got an education there that was as good as, if not better than, that I would have had at Westminster. I have never found that my lack of social graces has been a hindrance.

1959

1962

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.

1962

1963

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)

... although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found to my surprise that I was enjoying life in the present more than I had before. I began to make progress with my research...

... I therefore started working for the first time in my life. To my surprise I found I liked it.

1966

1973

1977

1979

300

1965

1970

1970

1970

1971

1 0 9 10^{9} 1 0 9

1983

... 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.

1982

1984

I was in Geneva, at CERN, the big particle accelerator, in the summer of 1985 . ... I caught pneumonia and was rushed to hospital. The hospital in Geneva suggested to my wife that it was not worth keeping the life support machine on. But she was having none of that. I was flown back to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where a surgeon called Roger Grey carried out a tracheotomy. That operation saved my life but took away my voice.

1988

1995

237

184

1998

6

1995

3

1993

40

39

2002

(1543)

(1638)

(

)

(1618)

(1687)

7

10

2002

60

th

2003

While many prominent physicists, cosmologists and astronomers have made important contributions to the study of quantum gravity and cosmology, the impact of Stephen Hawking's contributions to the field truly stand out. Although his work on black hole thermodynamics is perhaps the most well known, Hawking has also made major contributions to the study of singularity theorems in general relativity, black hole uniqueness, quantum fields in curved spacetimes, Euclidean quantum gravity, the wave function of the universe and many other areas as well. In addition to his own work, Hawking has served as advisor and mentor to a remarkable set of students. Furthermore, it would be hard to imagine assembling any list of researchers working in quantum cosmology without including a large number of Hawking's students and close colleagues. Thus the group that gathered at the CMS in Cambridge in honour of his 60 th birthday includes some of the leading theorists in the field.

2005

17

th

2004

2007

1974

1975

1976

1979

1982

1985

1986

1988

1999

... for boldness and creativity in gravitational physics, best illustrated by the prediction that black holes should emit black body radiation and evaporate, and for the special gift of making abstract ideas accessible and exciting to experts, generalists, and the public alike.

2003

2006

24

2006

30

2006

1660

275

th

Stephen Hawking has contributed as much as anyone since Einstein to our understanding of gravity. This medal is a fitting recognition of an astonishing research career spanning more than 40 years.

Stephen Hawking is a definitive hero to all of us involved in exploring the Cosmos. His contribution to science is unique and he serves as a continuous inspiration to every thinking person. It was an honour for the crew of the STS- 121 mission to fly his medal into space. We think that this is particularly appropriate as Stephen has dedicated his life to thinking about the larger Universe.

This is a very distinguished medal. It was awarded to Darwin, Einstein and Crick. I am honoured to be in their company.

's parents lived in London where his father was undertaking research into medicine. However, London was a dangerous place during World War II and Stephen's mother was sent to the safer town of Oxford where Stephen was born. The family were soon back together living in Highgate, north London, where Stephen began his schooling.InStephen's father moved to the Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. The family moved to St Albans so that the journey to Mill Hill was easier. Stephen attended St Albans High School for Girlswhich took boys up to the age of. When he was older he attended St Albans school but his father wanted him to take the scholarship examination to go to Westminster public school. However Stephen was ill at the time of the examinations and remained at St Albans school which he had attended from the age of. Stephen writes in:-Hawking wanted to specialise in mathematics in his last couple of years at school where his mathematics teacher had inspired him to study the subject. However Hawking's father was strongly against the idea and Hawking was persuaded to make chemistry his main school subject. Part of his father's reasoning was that he wanted Hawking to go to University College, Oxford, the College he himself had attended, and that College had no mathematics fellow.In MarchHawking took the scholarship examinations with the aim of studying natural sciences at Oxford. He was awarded an exhibition, despite feeling that he had performed badly, and at University College he specialised in physics in his natural sciences degree. He only just made a First Class degree inand inhe explains how the attitude of the time worked against him:-From Oxford, Hawking moved to Cambridge to take up research in general relativity and cosmology , a difficult area for someone with only a little mathematical background. Hawking had noticed that he was becoming rather clumsy during his last year at Oxford and, when he returned home for Christmasat the end of his first term at Cambridge, his mother persuaded him to see a doctor.In earlyhe spent two weeks having tests in hospital and motor neurone diseaseLou Gehrig's diseasewas diagnosed. His condition deteriorated quickly and the doctors predicted that he would not live long enough to complete his doctorate. However Hawking writes:-The reason that his research progressed was that he met a girl he wanted to marry and realised he had to complete his doctorate to get a job so:-After completing his doctorate inHawking was awarded a fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. At first his position was that of Research Fellow, but later he became a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. Inhe 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. InHawking was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. The man bornyears to the day after Galileo died now held Newton 's chair at Cambridge.BetweenandHawking worked on singularities in the theory of general relativity devising new mathematical techniques to study this area of cosmology. Much of his work in this area was done in collaboration with Roger Penrose who, at that time, was at Birkbeck College, London. FromHawking began to apply his previous ideas to the study of black holes.Continuing this work on black holes, Hawking discovered ina remarkable property. Using quantum theory and general relativity he was able to show that black holes can emit radiation. His success with proving this made him work from that time on combining the theory of general relativity with quantum theory. InHawking investigated the creation of the Universe and predicted that, following the big bang, many objects as heavy astons but only the size of a proton would be created. These mini black holes have large gravitational attraction governed by general relativity, while the laws of quantum mechanics would apply to objects that small.Another remarkable achievement of Hawking's using these techniques was his "no boundary proposal" made inwith Jim Hartle of Santa Barbara. Hawking explains that this would mean:-InHawking decided to write a popular book on cosmology. Byhe had produced a first draft of. However Hawking was to suffer a further illness:-Hawking was given a computer system to enable him to have an electronic voice. It was with these difficulties that he revised the draft ofwhich was published in. The book broke sales records in a way that it would have been hard to predict. By Mayit had been inbest-sellers list forweeks breaking the previous record ofweeks. This feat is recorded in the. Also recorded there is the fact that the paperback edition was published onApriland reached number one in the best sellers indays. By Aprilthere had beenhardback editions ofin the United States andhardback editions in the UK.InHawking published. This book, which he edited, contains reprints of nearly complete editions of: Copernicus ; and seven papers on relativity by Einstein . Each work is prefaced with a commentary by Hawking. Also fromtoJanuarya workshop and symposium was held in Cambridge to celebrate Hawking'sbirthday. The Proceeding was published inand James T Liu writes in a review:-InHawking publishedin which he proposed a solution to the information loss paradox. In the same yearwas published, being the transcript of the famous talk Hawking gave at theInternational Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin in. Inhe published. This is another anthology edited by Hawking containing selections from the writings of twenty-one mathematicians. For each mathematician he gives a brief biography and puts the selection into its mathematical context.Of course Hawking has received, and continues to receive, a large number of honours for his remarkable achievements. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in, being one of its youngest fellows. Inhe was awarded the Eddington Medal, inreceived the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society , inhe was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal, inbe was made a Commander of the British Empire by the Queen, inhe received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and inhe was elected a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences . He continued to receive major honours such as the prestigious Wolf Prize in Physics in. In the following year he received the Prince of Asturias Awards in Concord and also was made a Companion of Honour. Inhe received the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society:-InHawking was awarded the Michelson Morley Award of Case Western Reserve University and inthe Copley Medal of the Royal Society . This last award, announced onAugust, was presented to Hawking on theNovemberat the Society's annual Anniversary Day, commemorating the foundation of the Society in. This was theanniversary of the Copley Medal and the award to Hawking was marked in a unique way. The medal he received had been carried by the British astronaut Piers Sellers on a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, said:-Piers Sellers said:-In reply Hawking said:-