Stephen Hawking dead: Interesting facts and quotes - biography

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Stephen Hawking dead: Interesting facts and quotes - biography
Stephen Hawking dead: Interesting facts and quotes - biography

New Delhi : Famous physicist and scientist Stephen Hawking on Wednesday passed away at an age of 71, confirmed a spokesperson for the family. Despite being in a wheelchair for most of his life, he contributed much to the world of science. Here are some interesting facts and quotes from him.

1: Stephen Hawking, a British theoretical physicist, was born on January 8th, 1942.

2: Hawking contributed to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity. He also wrote a book ‘A Brief History of Time’.

3: Helped by the success of his book ‘A Brief History of Time’, Hawking released other books aimed at making his work accessible to a wide range of people, these include ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’, ‘A Briefer History of Time’ and ‘George's Secret Key to the Universe’, a children’s book with a strong focus on science.

4: Hawking worked extensively on the subject of black holes, providing theories for their behavior, including the idea that they emit radiation.

5: Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a type of motor neuron disease that has left him almost completely paralyzed.

6: Doctors gave him a life expectancy of about 2 years after being diagnosed with the disease; but he magically survived for over 50 years.

7: Stephen Hawking received awards for his work including the 1979 Albert Einstein Medal, the Order of the British Empire (Commander) in 1982 and the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics.

8: Famous Stephen Hawking quotes include: “There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the universe and what can be more special than that there is no boundary?”

9: “I don't believe that the ultimate theory will come by steady work along existing lines. We need something new. We can't predict what that will be or when we will find it because if we knew that, we would have found it already!”

10: “For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen.”

11: “It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.”

12: “I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.”

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