Probably the most prodigious mind of the 21st century, at least so far. Stephen Hawking was a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and science popularizer who changed the way we understand the universe today.
Not only did his extensive research work leave an indelible mark on the history of science, but his personal situation has made him an example of improvement: at the age of 22 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) , which caused that, Over the years, his mobility was limited to a brief portion of his body.
But not his intellectual brilliance, since he managed to become one of the most prolific scientists in history.
His main contribution to science lies in the so-called ‘theory of everything’, words that give their name, by the way, to his biographical film released in 2014. That is, he was the first scientist who tried to unify the Theory of General Relativity of Einstein with the laws of Quantum Physics.
The laws that govern the cosmos are not the same as those observed by scientists in the infinitesimal world, of small particles such as electrons, protons, and neutrons. The reconciliation of the two is one of the greatest mysteries of modern science.
Although there are more equations that try to answer this challenge, Hawking developed the main and most pioneering one: the formula for the temperature of a black hole. According to this theory, black holes are not really ‘black’, but emit radiation: the so-called Hawking radiation.
In addition, other conjectures of the operation of the universe elaborated by Hawking in his long years of research are the theory of imaginary time, and the one that postulates that the universe has no limits as such , so that time itself originated in the Big Bang itself. .
Stephen Hawking stood out from his childhood for his brilliance. So much so that he presented his doctoral thesis when he was only 24 years old. The thesis, called ‘Properties of Expanding Universes ‘, has been public since 2017, and can be consulted at the University of Cambridge.
If his illness did not prevent him from developing as one of the most remembered scientists in history, it also did not limit him when it comes to developing emotionally. He was married twice, 1965 and 1995 and had three children.
During the last years of his life, the cosmologist did not stop publishing and giving lectures, as a great reference in the current study of the universe, and also of the future of humanity as a species.
In one of his last public interventions, he warned that humans must leave Earth to survive as a species. He also made important reflections about life on other planets and the possibility of intelligent life in other parts of the cosmos, whose opinion was heard and valued by the highest personalities in the world of science until its last days.
Stephen Hawking dreamed of traveling into space, although he only managed to recreate the zero gravity experience when he was 65 years old. After his death, current science is left without one of its main figures. In this gallery, we review the most important events of his life, as well as his most important contributions to humanity.
