Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking is a world-renowned theoretical
physicist and
mathematician. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the
University of Cambridge, a post he has held since
1979.
Fast Facts
- Born January 8, 1942
- Has written or co-written 14 books
- Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at age 21
- Has used voice synthesizer to speak since 1985
- 1988: First book, A Brief History of Time published
- Has appeared on episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Simpsons, Futurama and Masters of Science Fiction
- 2007: Flew on a zero-gravity jet
Hawking Radiation
When black holes were first theorized, it was believed that all matter and energy that entered black holes was lost forever. However, Hawking predicted that black holes actually emit radiation. Subsequent research has shown that this theory is likely to be correct. The radiation has been named Hawking Radiation. Scientists believe that the facility known as the Large Hadron Collider, which will come online in the fall of 2008, will be able to test the theory of Hawking Radiation.
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