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By Vishnu Makhijani
New Delhi, November 7 (IANS): Stephen Hawking was only 21 when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative motor neuron disease that almost always causes death within 2-5 years of diagnosis, with only one in 20 patients living for 20 years or more .
He has lived with it for 55 years and is known for his groundbreaking research on black holes, described as “some of the strangest and most fascinating objects in outer space” – and seminal books such as “A Brief History of Time” and co-author of “The Grand Design “.
He was confined to a wheelchair for most of his life, with a “peg” inserted into his belly through which his “assistants” injected liquids and vitamins – he took 80 pills a day – directly into his stomach and fed him. through an oversized spoon. He communicated through a speech-generating device, using only one cheek muscle to type words and sentences on a computer.
A lesser mortal would long throw in the towel but not Hawking, as Leonard Mlodinow, himself a theoretical physicist and co-author of “The Grand Design”, writes in “Stephen Hawking – A Memoir of Friendship and Physics” (Allen Lane / Penguin Random House) – a heart-warming saga of what a human can achieve, regardless of the odds.
“After his diagnosis, it took about a year of intense emotional struggle for Stephen to face his fate. In defining an ever-growing universe of physical activities he could not perform, his illness amplified the value of mental activities he could. It left him the choice of wasting away in spirit as well as body or of finding a world of mind that he could still function in. Where some in his situation would find God, Stephen found physics. He decided to finish his Ph.D. D. (from Cambridge). To his surprise he found that he liked the job, “writes Mlodinow, who worked closely with Hawking for 11 years on (condensed)” A Briefer History of Time “and” The Grand Design ” .
Hawking’s career began after his doctoral dissertation, written in 1966, when he was 24.
“In that work, he showed that Einstein’s general relativity required the universe to start with the big bang. This made him famous in the world of cosmology, but not yet the dominant figure he would later become. grew from his subsequent project, in which he combined general relativity and quantum theory, conflicting theories that presented very different conceptualizations of the universe, the nature of space and time, force, motion, even the sense in which the present influences the future.
“It was in his embrace of the contradictions in those two theories that we see the roots of his ideas about modality-dependent realism. And by skilfully moving back and forth between these two theories, he became the first to apply both to the same important physical process,” this paving the way for others. That work was his research on black holes, culminating in his discovery of what is now called Hawking radiation, “Mlodinow, who constantly shuttled between Caltech, where he taught, and Cambridge during the collaboration. , he writes.
“Hawking’s radiation was important because it represented the first major example where general relativity and quantum theory were applied to the same system. We don’t have a complete theory of quantum gravity yet, but we have black holes as a mathematical laboratory to mix general relativity. and quantum theory, physicists have been able to learn about the properties and principles of that elusive theory, ”Mlodinow writes.
So why was Hawking never considered for the Nobel Prize?
“A consistent principle that the Nobel committee appears to adhere to is that theoretical advancement will not bring an award unless confirmed by observation or experiment,” and indirect evidence supporting Hawking’s radiation has finally only come in. 2019, just over a year after his death.
“If Stephen had survived, it would have been enough for the Nobel committee, but another thing, the Nobel committee doesn’t do is award posthumous prizes,” rues Mlodinow.
In the midst of all this is the human element.
“That Stephen attracted nourishment (from a real army of caregivers, friends and admirers) was easy to understand. But he also attracted affection. I felt it almost from the start. Part of that was his eyes, blue and full of character. They could convey great warmth. They could talk to you. They could make you feel connected. To those who were his friends, they were affectionate. To those who didn’t know him, they were inviting. To those who were annoyed with him, they were disarming. When he suffered. , crumpled them up and you could feel it too. And if you pissed him off, his eyes made you wish you hadn’t, “Mlodinow writes.
It’s not all.
“There are many words that could be used to describe Stephen. Brave. Stubborn. Skeptical. Visual. Passionate. Playful. Determined, brilliant. Fun loving … In the public eye, Stephen did not quickly become one of the greatest physicists. of his generation, but one of the greatest minds since Plato’s time … Stephen’s fame didn’t go to his head. He had always had a certain arrogance – like most people who are so smart and accomplished – but he appreciated it also, intelligent as it was, nature is more intelligent, as all theorists know from experience, “writes Mlodinow.
Thus, the completion of “The Grand Design” was the “end of an era” in Mlodinow’s life and he wondered if their paths would cross again.
“After being together in the trenches for years, writing two books, discussing collaborating by sharing our meals and our thoughts, our connections would now fade,” he wondered.
In fact, due to their diverse schedules, they rarely met in the four years following the completion of the second book and Hawking’s death on March 14, 2018.
“His disappearance left a black hole in the lives of all who were his friends,” concludes Mlodinow.
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