Biography of Stephen Hawking Essay -- Stephen Hawking Lou Gehrig’s Dis

Biography of Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942. He is the first child of Frank and Isabel Hawking. During the second World War, Isabel was sent from her husband’s home in Highgate, to Oxford. This was considered a much safer place to have children during the war. Soon after his birth, his family moved back in together in their north London home. Hawking began his schooling here at Hertfordshire School. Hawking moved only once during his childhood, to Saint Albans, a small town about 20 miles away from North London. His father, Frank, moved to the Institute for Medical Research in 1950. The rest of the family moved to St. Albans to make it easier to get to Mill Hill, where the Institute was located. When the family moved, Hawking began attending St. Albans High School for Girls. The school accepted boys that were ten years old or younger. When he became too old to go this school, he switched to St. Albans School. At the age of 11, his father wanted him to go to Westminster Public School. To go there, he had to take the scholarship exam. On the day of the exam, Hawking was too ill to take the exam so he stayed at St. Albans School. Hawking said that â€Å"I got an education there that was as good as, if not better than, that I would have received at Westminster.† As Hawking got older, he wanted to study mathematics. He had been inspired by his math teacher, but his father disagreed with his choice. His father persuaded him to switch his main course of study to Physics. Hawking’s father had gone to University College, Oxford and wanted Hawking to go there too. At the time, math was not a course there, and Hawking’s father used that as part of his argument in persuading Hawking not to take mathematics. In March 1959, Hawking took an exam to get into University College in Oxford. He felt that he had not done well on the test, but was still awarded a scholarship to go. Once he got in, his goal was to study Natural Sciences and ended up specializing in Physics. He was awarded a first class degree in 1962. He barely made the first class degree and said it was made hard for him because â€Å"The prevailing attitude at Oxford at that was very anti-Work. You were supposed to brilliant without effort, or accept your limitations and get a fourth class degree. To work hard to get a better class of degree was regarded as t... ...ventually be transmitted back out in a garbled form. Hawking has been portrayed on many tv shows. Cartoons he has been in include Dexter’s Laboratory, Futurama, Dilbert, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Pinky and the Brain. He also appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and on Late Night With Conan O’Brian doing a skit with Jim Carrey. One website has a Hawking-like synthesizer voice who raps about physics called â€Å"MC Hawking† He lent his voice to â€Å"Keep Talking† by Pink Floyd for Division Bell. He was even once featured in a satirical newspaper called The Onion. The newspaper ran an article that said Hawking’s head was mounted on top of a super robotic cyborg body, which also had laser guided missiles and a jetpack. Hawking jokingly sent them a letter cursing them for exposing his evil plot to take over the world. Hawking is also a supporter of several major causes. He has agreed to take part in a protest against the war in Iraq. He appeared on a broadcast for the Labour Party. He is an active supporter of Children’s Charity. Overall, Hawking is a great man. He is an inspiration and genius. He is a great man in his family, in science, and in the community.