Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking, born on January 8, 1942, was known as a British scientist, professor, and author who performed ground breaking work in physics and cosmology, and whose books helped to make science accessible to everyone. His parents, Frank and Isobel Hawking, had four children in total, with him being the oldest in the family. Stephen Hawking was born to a family of thinkers. His mother, who was Scottish  earned her way into Oxford University during the 1930s, which was a time when few women were able to go to college. His dad also attended Oxford and was a graduate, he was a medical researcher with a specialty in tropical diseases. Although many people described the Hawking's an "eccentric" family, due to the fact that they would eat in silence, each Hawking member would always be reading a book, and their family car was an old London Taxi. During his academic years, Stephen Hawking was the brightest student. He would consider himself the third bottom of the class. He wouldn't put much of his time into studying. Hawking entered Oxford University at the age of 17. Though he had a specialty in mathematic, during college he chose to study physics and more specifically cosmology.  After his academic years, he had graduated with honors and wrote a total of 15 books. He had some achievements which were he co-discovered the four laws of black hole mechanics, he contributed to the theory of cosmic inflation, and proposed a theory of "top-down cosmology", with Thomas Hertog.   Due to his achievements, he had also won a total of 16 awards. Sadly the Nobel Prize is not one of them. Unfortunately, at the age 21, he was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the nerves that controlled his muscle were shutting down. He would start to realize this disease during his time in Oxford, whenever he tripped and fell or when he gave a speech. He wouldn't have a look at this problem until later on, around 1963. At the time, the doctors gave him two and a half years to live. Surprisingly, he lived for more than 50 years. In a sense, the disease helped him be the noted scientist that he was.