Stephen Hawking, the master of time, space, and black holes, steps back into the spotlight to secure his scientific legacy—and to explain the greatest mystery in physics: the origin of the universe.
by Tim Folger; photography by Mackenzie Stroh
From the July-August special issue, published online September 11, 2009
Two decades after rocketing to scientific stardom with his book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking still knows how to make an entrance. On a mild March evening in Pasadena, California, 4,500 people fill the convention center to hear him give a talk called “Why We Should Go Into Space.” Shortly after 8 p.m. the lights dim, a few thousand conversations stop, and the soaring trumpet fanfare from Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (better known as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey) fills the room. Hawking is in the house. The crowd turns to watch the frail physicist being wheeled at a good clip down the center aisle. He is wearing a charcoal gray suit and an open-neck white shirt; his head slumps toward his right shoulder; his hands are folded neatly in his lap. The music segues to The Blue Danube Waltz as he rolls up a ramp to the stage.
Hawking sits silently for a few moments, alone at center stage, before a member of his Cambridge, England, posse appears. Sam Blackburn, a graduate student who manages the beeping, bulky communications complex that is Hawking’s wheelchair, runs over and makes a few adjustments to his boss’s Lenovo ThinkPad X61 laptop. The iconic synthesized voice kicks in. “Can you hear me?” Hawking asks. The crowd cheers.
That cheer follows Hawking wherever he goes, in part because he shouldn’t even be here. In 1963, while a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, he was told he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a diagnosis that usually proves fatal within five years. Yet he pressed on, becoming one of the world’s leading physicists and a best-selling author. He has plumbed the depths of black holes and sought to explain the beginning of time. He has been a guest on Star Trek: The Next Generation and has met the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. He has been married twice, has three children (“The disease only affects voluntary muscle,” he reportedly once commented), and is now a grandfather. Judith Croasdell, Hawking’s ruthlessly devoted personal assistant, says his schedule is fully booked through 2012. Oh, yes—and he’s also working on a new theory about the origin of the universe.
more (long, worth reading):
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jul-aug/11-stephen-hawking-is-making-his-comeback
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