STEPHEN HAWKING
A SLIDE BY,
SRINIKETAN

• Stephen Hawking is an
English theoretical physicist,
cosmologist, and author.
• Hawking was the first
scientist to offer a theory of
cosmology explained by a
union of the general theory
of relativity and quantum
mechanics

The early life of Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in
Oxford, England. His family had moved to Oxford to escape the
threat of V2 rockets over London.
As a child, he showed prodigious talents. On leaving the school
he got a place at University College, Oxford University where he
studied Physics.
He used few books and made no notes, but could work out
theorems and solutions in a way other students couldn’t

He married Jane Wilde in 1965. He said this was a real turning point
for him at the time when he was fatalistic because of his illness. They
later divorced but had three children

Disability
Hawking has a rare early-onset slow-
progressing form of Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor
neuron disease of Lou Gehrig’s disease that
has gradually paralyzed him over the
decades.
ALS is characterized by stiff muscles,
muscle twitching, and gradually worsening
due to muscles decreasing in size. This
results in, swallowing, and eventually
breathing.

• In the late 1960s, Hawking’s physical abilities declined: he began to use crutches and ceased lecturing
regularly
• Hawking was, however, fiercely independent and unwilling to accept help or make concessions for his
disabilities.
• He preferred to be regarded as “a scientist first, popular science writer second, and, in all the ways that
matter, a normal human being with the same desires, drives, dreams, and ambitions as the next
person.”
• His wife Jae Hawking later noted that “Some people would call it determination, some obstinacy. I’ve
called it both at one time or another.
• He required much persuasion to accept the use of a wheelchair at the end of the 1960s, but ultimately
became notorious for the wildness of this wheelchair driving.
• Hawking could now simply press a switch to select phrases, words or letters from a bank of about 2,300-
3,000 that are scanned
• By 2009 he could no longer drive his wheelchair independently

THIS STORY TELLS US THAT EVEN IF WE ARE DISABLED WE SHOULD NOT GIVE UP OUR
GOAL
THANK YOU 