Stephen Hawking

By Michael and Jesse

Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS in 1963 (a few years

after his 21st birthday). ALS is a condition that over time can easily cripple the body and most of the motor skills. Doctors diagnosed his condition by injecting him with a special radio fluid, and took many x-rays to find out what the problem was. He needed help with a wheelchair. He also needed private nurses to help him(they came in and out of his house.) Until he caught pneumonia in 1985. After that, he needed 24-hour nursing care. One of his colleagues, David Mason, helped develop a voice synthesizer to help him speak his lectures. It took a while to type in the words, and make a phrase or sentence. Then he entered it into the computer, and it projected the phrase so people could hear his lectures. 15 words a minute was a very good typing pace for someone with his disease.

How he got the disease

In an interview, he says that his disease hasn't held him

back very far. He is happy because he has a family who loves him, and gives him support with his crippling disease.

Stopped him from performing normal day actions and needs around the clock care.

Some positive and negative responses they have had by people to their disease

CanBecause of his wheelchair he is able to move around and speak with his computer with his cheek. Can’tHe cannot move around normally unless in the chair and cannot perform normal day actions.

Can and Cant do

Stephen Hawking wasn’t seen to live 5 more years after

being diagnosed with this disease and now he is 70. Has had to overcome speeches in-front of many people

and has had to come up with inventions able to be used by him.

Any adversity that they have had to overcome

1966 - Completes doctorate and is awarded

fellowship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He works on singularities in the theory of general relativity and applies ideas to the study of black holes.

1968 - Publishes Large Scale Structure of Space-Time

1970 - Discovers that by using quantum theory and general relativity he is able to show that black holes can emit radiation.

1973 - In the same year he joins the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge, he discovers that black holes could leak energy and particles into space, and could even explode. It is published in the journal Nature, a year later. The theory is known as Hawking radiation.

Achievments

Stephen Hawking has lived for a much longer

period of time than he should have. He was diagnosed at 21 with ALS and to only live until he was 25 but now he is 70.

He uses a computerised wheelchair to help him overcome life’s easiest of tasks like walking and speaking.

Summary