BBC News School Report @ LCS
What You Didn't Know About Stephen Hawking; The Legend
By: Zoraz.
Stephen Hawking is a renowned scientist who was famous for his work in theoretical physics. He was also a cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. Professor Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the morning of the 14th March 2018 after a long battle with Motor Neuron Disease. This is a disease that progressively degenerates motor neurons and wastes away muscles. Stephen Hawking became the world’s most famous scientist since Albert Einstein because of his amazing discoveries of the mysteries of space.
But did you know these facts about the scientific legend? 1) Stephen Hawking stars in Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and Comic Relief. 2) He was voted one of the 25th greatest Britons of all time. 3) Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Despite being a British Citizen he was given one of the US’s highest honours. 4) In 2007 he became the first quadriplegic to experience weightlessness in a plane specially designed to simulate zero gravity. 5) He met many famous people like Nelson Mandela and the Queen. 6) In 2014 his life was made into a film called The Theory of Everything. 7) He was born 300 years after the astronomer Galileo. 8) He wasn’t at the top of his class in his local public school. 9) At a meeting of the Royal Society Hawking interrupted a lecture by renowned astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle to let him know that he had made a mistake. When asked how he knew there had been an error, Hawking replied: "Because I've worked them out in my head." 10) Stephan Hawking has predicted the end of Humanity in about 100-200 years due to global warming, a killer virus or the impact of a large catastrophic comet.
Stephen Hawking was a great genius and so much more. He broke down barriers in science and made it more accessible for people. His work is some of the greatest contributions to modern day science. He will be missed dearly and his legacy shall live on forever.