BTLEW Lesson 9 - Against All Odds Part Two ENTER

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Lesson 9 - Against All Odds

Part TwoPart Two

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I. About the text

II. Stephen Hawking

III. Major works by Hawking

IV. ALS

Background Background InformationInformation

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This text is adapted from the biography of Stephen Hawking—Stephen Hawking: A life in Science, 2nd edition, written by Michael White and John Gribbin, published in 1998.


I.I. About the textAbout the text

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Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford.

In 1950 Stephen'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 Girls (which took boys up to the age of 10). When he was older he attended St Albans school.


II. Stephen II. Stephen Hawking Hawking

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Hawking was persuaded to make chemistry his main school subject by his father.

In March 1959 Hawking took the scholarship examinations with the aim of studying natural sciences at Oxford. He was awarded a scholarship, despite feeling that he had performed badly, and at University College he specialised in physics in his natural sciences degree.




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Hawking moved to Cambridge from Oxford 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 Christmas, 1962, at the end of his first term at Cambridge, his mother persuaded him to see a doctor.




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In early 1963 he spent two weeks having tests in hospital and motor neurone disease (Lou Gehrig's disease) was diagnosed. His condition deteriorated quickly and the doctors predicted that he would not live long enough to complete his doctorate. 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.




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After completing his doctorate in 1966 Hawking was awarded a fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1973 he 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 1977.

In 1979 Hawking was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. The man born 300 years to the day after Galileo died now held Newton's chair at Cambridge.




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Between 1965 and 1970 Hawking worked on singularities in the theory of general relativity devising new mathematical techniques to study this area of cosmology. From 1970 Hawking began to apply his previous ideas to the study of black holes.

Continuing this work on black holes, Hawking discovered in 1970 a 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.




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In 1971 Hawking investigated the creation of the Universe and predicted that, following the big bang, many objects as heavy as 109 tons 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 in 1983 with Jim Hartle of Santa Barbara.




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In 1982 Hawking decided to write a popular book on cosmology. By 1984 he had produced a first draft of A Brief History of Time. 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 of A Brief History of Time which was published in 1988. The book broke sales records in a way that it would have been hard to predict.




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Hawking has received, and continues to receive, a large number of honours. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974, being one of its youngest fellows. He was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. Hawking has also received many foreign awards and prizes and was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.




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Professor Hawking is

currently interested

in selling his hot air

balloon basket,

especially designed

by experts for

wheelchair access.

This very special item

is in excellent

condition and ready

to use.



The end of Stephen Hawking.

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• Universe in a Nutshell 《果壳里的空间之王》 / The Illustrated Brief History of Time (1988)

Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays (1993) 《黑洞、婴儿宇宙及其他》

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe 《时空本性》

The Future of Spacetime 《未来的魅力》 A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black H

oles ——《时间简史从大爆炸到黑洞》 In 1992 American filmmaker Errol Morris helped mak

e all-time best seller A Brief History of Time into a film about Hawking’s life and work.


III. Major works by III. Major works by HawkingHawking

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ALS Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis 肌萎缩侧索硬化 a rare progressive disease that handicaps movement

and speech

a = absence of 缺乏myo = muscle 肌肉 trophic = nourishment 营养Lateral = side (of spine) （脊髓的）边沿Sclerosis = hardening 硬化


IV. ALSIV. ALS


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I am quite often asked: How do you feel about having ALS? The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many.


IV. ALSIV. ALS


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The ALS Association is the only national not-for-profit health organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS through research, patient and community services, public education, and advocacy.


IV. ALSIV. ALS

The end of ALS.

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BTLEW Lesson 9 - Against All Odds Part Two ENTER