Stephen Hawking and the Universe

Stephen William Hawking is thought to be the greatest theoretical physicist of the late twentieth century.  His name stands high with Issac Newton and Albert Einstein because together they changed human understanding of the universe.  Stephen was always curious about how parts fit together, how they moved and work.  Knowing that he wanted to be a scientist when he was a child, he became excited when he first studied chemistry.  Stephen had many accomplishments as a teenager.  He build radio-controlled planes, boats, and tanks.  As if these were not enough, Stephen and his friends build computers which solve complex logical problems.  Today most students use calculators to solve both simple and complex problems.

After getting nearly a perfect in physics for the entrance examination, Stephen was accepted to Oxford, one of the two best universities in England.  Determined to be a theoretical physicist, he ended his years at Oxford and continued his studies in physics.  After graduating with a bachelor's degree, he went on to earn a doctorate (PhD) in physics, specializing in cosmology.  Cosmology is the study of the orgin, evolution, and future of the universe.

Stephen studied blackholes in the late 1960s.  These blackholes have gravity so strong that no force can resist it.  In the center of these blackholes are singularities, where tiny but immensely massive objects are fit into.  They break down until there are no size at all.  Many believed that there was no way for such objects to be formed in the real universe.  A physicist named Roger Penrose showed that the collapse of a star could lead to the formation of a singularity.  After reading penrose's discovery in 1965, he realized the reverse effect of Penrose's theory, thus suggesting the birth of the universe, the event of the Big Bang.  The Big Bang is a immense explosion about thirteen billion years ago that started the present expansion of the universe.

Hawkin and Penrose worked together to find out if the universe started with the explosion of a singularity.  This is important because scientists wanted to know the mass of the universe.  If the mass of the universe is too small, it would not stop the galaxies from moving apart.  But if there is enough mass, the expansion will slow down and stop.  This will cause galaxies to attract and move closer.  Physicists call this the Big Crunch.

To learn more visit Stephen Hawking's Official Website.

Image courtesy of Neel Shearer, Graduate Assistant to Professor Hawking