Author: Maria Popova / Source: Brain Pickings
At twenty-two, Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942–March 14, 2018) was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — a rare motor disease — and given a few years to live. He lived for more than half a century thereafter. Despite the increasing bodily limitations inflicted by the incurable disease, he went on to soar with a limitless mind that has impacted the course of modern physics perhaps more profoundly than any scientist since Albert Einstein.
His theory of what is now known as Hawking radiation — the thermal electromagnetic radiation which quantum phenomena on the event horizon cause a black hole to emit — revolutionized our understanding of the most powerful objects in the known universe and, in consequence, of the universe itself. His pursuit of a “theory of everything” adrenalized the scientific community and his landmark 1988 book A Brief History of Time awakened generations of lay readers to the splendor of physics, welding science to the rest of culture.The post Stephen Hawking on the Meaning of the Universe appeared first on FeedBox.