If there is anyone out there who still doubts that one man can change the world of science; who still wonders if a genius was ever born; who still questions the evidence on the existence of black holes, then Stephen Hawkins is your answer.
Stephen Hawkins, the
British Scientist who died
yesterday, is one of the most famous scientists of all time.
The brilliant acclaimed cosmologist and world-renowned superstar of the galaxies lies in the same category as other scientific giants like Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, on whose shoulders he stood on and moved the world.
I attended a number of his lectures while I was still a student at the University of Cambridge. Stephen Hawkins taught me about black holes and that
a
gravitational singularity
is a
one-dimensional point which contains infinite mass in an infinitely small space.
In a singularity, gravity becomes infinite, space-time curves infinitely and the laws of physics as we know them cease to exist.
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While previous scientists believed that nothing could escape a black hole, including light, Stephen Hawkins, in 1974, demonstrated that black holes indeed emit radiation which may go on and on until they exhaust their energy and ultimately evaporate.
This important breakthrough which became known as Hawking Radiation became an important discovery in theoretical physics.
Hawkins is perhaps well known for his contributions to the Theory of the Big Bhang in which he demonstrated that the universe exponentially expanded soon thereafter the bhang before slowing down.
He was indeed one of the first to show quantum fluctuations that occurred during the cosmic inflation and how this gave rise to the spread of galaxies in the universe.
His proposal of the universe as a model with no boundaries and space or time is illustrated in his best-selling science book:
A Brief History of Time. Published in 1988, it sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
In a brief history of time, Stephen Hawkins came to planet earth, lived, conquered and he has now fallen into a black hole.
However, his scientific works will be a treasure for the world forever. Rest in peace, Stephen Hawkins.