Hines 1

Roy Hines
Mr. Amtmann
English 12-2
15 October 2014
The Greatest Physicist of the Century
Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds of not only the theoretical physics science
field, but he may very well be one of the greatest minds of our century. Even as a child, Hawking
would lay in his backyard to view the stars as inspiration for his thoughts. In addition to his
general contributions to physical science, he published two books for the public that very clearly
discussed his theories on the universes origin, as well as the fascinating phenomenons that are
black holes. Many of the theories Hawking worked with, including the Hawking Particle theory,
shows the raw mathematical and scientific intellect of the professor. Despite his physical
handicap and various hardships, Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds in the scientific
field (Davis).
Interestingly born on the 300th anniversary of the death of the great physicist Galileo
(Stephen), Stephen Hawkings childhood was rather simplistic. In his early years, beyond the
aforementioned stargazing, Hawking would often climb trees and find other ways into his house
(Stephen). His naturalistic nature didnt stop there, as he seemed to enjoy the outdoors quite a bit
as a child. This was prevalent to the point of him joining the rowing team in college (Stephen).
His primary interests were in mathematics and physics, but due to the lack of a math program at
Oxford, the university his family went to, he took up cosmology as his primary education
(Stephen). Beyond this, Hawkings work in cosmology clearly proves his intellect in the natural
sense (Wilson).

Hines 2
Hawking, as a Quantum Physicist, has quite a large sense of the spatial organization of
our universe. Hawkings primary theory that rocketed him forward in the scientific community
was that of what we now call Hawking Radiation, or the theory that Black Holes produce a
certain level of radiation due to quantum effects near the event horizon (Hawking). In addition,
Hawking published a book in 1988 called A Brief History of Time, as well as a follow up in 2005
aptly titled A Briefer History of Time that seeks to explain to the lesser-scientifically inclined
citizen various theories and ideas in the field of cosmology, so much as to the point in noting in
the afterword that, for every equation in the book, the readership would be halved; thus, it only
contains the single Equation of Relativity, E=MC2 (Hawking). These theories likely stem from
an early interest in mathematics and cosmology (Stephen). These theories, as well as other works
that Hawking has completed with varying degrees of complexity, show that Hawkings special
sense is quite vast in nature.
In addition to his works in Cosmology, Hawking remains a physicist in many ways. He
had a long tenure at the University of Cambridge in which he taught mathematics for 30 years
(Smith). Hawking is also credited with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian
award in the United States of America (Smith). His teachings and supervision has also led to 39
students earning a PhD (Smith). Hawkings intellect in the mathematical and scientific field has
led to these various achievements.
Stephen Hawking is truly one of the greatest minds of our century. All of his
accomplishments that credit him in his various multiple intelligences are proof of this. Between
teaching, researching, and living with ALS, he has led quite a long and productive life. Today,
Hawking has lived for 72 years, has married twice (both divorced), and has 3 kids (Smith).
Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds of the 21st century.

Hines 3
Works Cited

Davis, K. "Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences - Mi Oasis." 2013.

Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time: Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition.
fffffNew York: Bantam Books: n.p., 1998. Print.

Smith, Erin. "Stephen Hawking." Monkeyshines on Health & Science (1998): 15. Middle Search
fffffPlus. Web. 7 Oct. 2014
Stephen William Hawking." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.

Wilson, Leslie Owen. "The Eighth Intelligence - Naturalistic Intelligence" 2014. 1 Oct. 2014