What five things have we learned thanks to Stephen Hawking (9 photos)

A man who not only lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for a record number of years, but also made a huge investment in the development of physics.





Hawking, being almost completely paralyzed, became a theoretical physicist and created the Center for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge (and became the director there). His sharp mind and unconventional thinking made his main achievement: the application of thermodynamics to the description of black holes. He also developed the theory in 1975 that black holes evaporate due to a phenomenon called Hawking radiation.



Young Stephen and Jane

In parallel with his work, he managed not only to get married and have three children with his first wife Jane. Just at the beginning of their relationship, ALS began to rapidly attack the physicist’s body. Jane and Stephen married in 1965. In addition to giving birth to and caring for three children, Jane also cared for Stephen, who required full-time care over the years.





Stephen and Elaine

After surgery on his larynx in 1985, Stephen could no longer speak. Jane resolutely rejected the doctors' proposal to disconnect her husband from life support and he continued to live. For care, Jane hired a nurse, Elaine, to make her life a little easier.

And it just so happened that Stephen and Elaine fell in love with each other. The relationship between Hawking and Jane at that time was already rather friendly and her husband even approved of Jane’s relationship with a family friend who helped the Hawkings a lot.



In 1995, Stephen Hawking married his caregiver. Their relationship was quite stormy, and in 2006 they divorced because the scientist... fell in love with his new nurse. He did not marry.

But throughout his difficult life, his closest and most faithful friend was always only Jane. They always treated each other well and maintained a tender friendship until the scientist’s death.

But let's return to the discoveries of Stephen Hawking.

The general theory of relativity relates to errors in various navigation systems



Einstein formulated the general theory of relativity in 1915.

“Gravitational effects are caused not by the force interaction of bodies and fields located in space-time, but by the deformation of space-time itself, which is associated, in particular, with the presence of mass-energy”

Hawking actively popularized this theory. Among other things, he said:

“If general relativity is not taken into account in GPS navigation satellite systems, errors in determining global positions will accumulate at a rate of about 10 km per day. It is important to understand that the closer an object is to Earth, the slower time passes.

Thus, depending on how far the satellites are from Earth, their onboard clocks will operate at different speeds. We could compensate for this difference automatically if this effect were taken into account."

The universe gave birth to itself



Stephen Hawking was a strong atheist. Moreover, he spent a lot of time to provide evidence that life does not require any God.

"Because there is such a force as gravity, the Universe could and did create itself out of nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason why the Universe exists, why we exist. There is no need for God to 'light' the fire and make the Universe work."

Quarks are never alone



What are quarks? We can say that these are like the building blocks of neutrons and protons and they exist only collectively and never alone.

The force binding quarks increases in proportion to the distance between them. And if you try to pull one quark away from another, the stronger the pull, the stronger it will pull back. “Idle” quarks do not exist in nature.

The past is a possibility



Hawking argued that one of the consequences of quantum mechanics is that events that happened in the past did not happen in any precisely defined way. They happened in every way possible. This is due to the probabilistic nature of energy and matter, according to quantum mechanics. That is, until an outside observer appears, everything will continue to exist in uncertainty.

“No matter what memories you currently hold of the past, the past, like the future, is uncertain and exists as a spectrum of possibilities.”

Sad aquarium fish



Hawking said: “Imagine yourself as a fish living in an aquarium with convex walls. What would you know about our world if you spent your whole life looking at it distorted by glass and had no way to get out?”

That is, according to the scientist, it is simply unrealistic to know the true nature of reality. We think that we clearly understand the world around us, but, if we turn to metaphors, humanity is doomed to spend its entire life in an aquarium, because the capabilities of our body simply do not allow us to get out of it.

The authorities of the city of Monz, by the way, were so impressed by these words of the scientist that at the legislative level they prohibited keeping fish in round containers so that distorted light would not prevent them from seeing and perceiving the world as it is.