Biographical Sketch of Stephen Hawking 

Stephen William Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of the world. He was born at Oxford in England on 8 January, 1942 to Isobel Hawking and Frank Hawking. He was the eldest of four sons. His father, Frank Hawking, was a medical researcher with a speciality in tropical diseases. 

Hawking was recognised as a bright student. But he was not initially successful academically. During his high school years, Stephen stood the third from the bottom of his class.

Hawking used to remain with a close group of friends with whom he enjoyed board games, the manufacture of fireworks, model aeroplanes and boats. With the help of the mathematics teacher, Dickran Tahta, Hawking and his companions built a computer from clock parts, an old telephone switchboard and other recycled components when he was 16. Hawking solved rudimentary mathematical equations.

He married Jane Wilde on 14 July, 1965. The first years after their marriage were hectic. Hawking has achieved many things in the field of science in spite of his prolonged illness. He has been suffering from an incurable disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which has weakened his muscles since he was 17 years old.

Stephen Hawking is known for his work regarding black holes and for authoring several popular science books. In 1974, Hawking’s research turned him into a celebrity within the scientific world when he showed that black holes are not the information vacuums that scientists had thought they were. In simple terms, Hawking demonstrated that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape the gravitational force of a collapsed star. Thus Hawking Radiation was invented.

As a mark of his eminence, Professor Hawking obtained twelve honorary degrees which he deserved. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 32, and later earned the prestigious Albert Einstein Award. In 1975, Hawking journeyed to Rome, where he was honoured with the Pius XI – Gold Medal for science from Pope Paul VI in 1975.