Stephen william hawking (1942 65438+1October 8th) was born in Oxford, England. Graduated from Oxford University and Trinity College of Cambridge University successively, and obtained a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge University. He has been in a wheelchair for 40 years, because he unfortunately suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease when he was 2 1 year old, which led to muscle atrophy. Speech and question-and-answer can only be done with a speech synthesizer. Professor of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University, England, the most important contemporary general relativity and cosmologist, is one of the great men who enjoy international reputation in this century and is called the greatest scientist in the world. Hawking, also known as the "king of the universe", 1942 10 was born in Oxford, England, on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. In 1970s, he and Penrose proved the famous singularity theorem. For this reason, they jointly won the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1988. He is therefore known as the most famous scientific thinker and the most outstanding theoretical physicist in the world after Einstein. He also proved the area theorem of black holes, that is, the area of black holes does not decrease with the increase of time. This naturally makes people associate the area of a black hole with the entropy of thermodynamics. In 1973, he considered the quantum effect near the black hole. It is found that the black hole emits radiation like a black body, and the temperature of radiation is inversely proportional to the mass of the black hole, so that the black hole will gradually become smaller due to radiation, but the temperature will get higher and higher, and it will end with the last explosion. The discovery of black hole radiation is of fundamental significance, unifying gravity, quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics.

1974, his research turned to the theory of quantum gravity. Although people haven't got a successful theory, they have found some characteristics of it. For example, spacetime is not flat at Planck scale (10-33 cm), but in a bubble state. In quantum gravity, there is no pure state, so the causal relationship is destroyed.

After 1980, his interest turned to quantum cosmology.

The subtitle of this book is From BIGBANG to Black Hole. Hawking believes that his life contribution lies in that under the framework of classical physics, the inevitability of black holes and the singularity of the big bang are proved, and black holes are getting bigger and bigger; However, under the framework of quantum physics, he pointed out that black holes became smaller and smaller due to radiation, and the singularity of the Big Bang was not only smoothed out by quantum effects, but the whole universe also started from here.

The details of theoretical physics will change in the next 20 years, but as far as concept is concerned, it is quite complete now.

Hawking's life is very legendary. In terms of scientific achievements, he is one of the most outstanding scientists in history. His contribution was made when he was confined to a wheelchair for 20 years because of Luger's disease. This is really unprecedented. Because his contribution has a far-reaching impact on the concept of human beings, there have been many descriptions in the media about how he struggled with total paralysis. Therefore, God is fair to everyone. He has a physical defect. Nevertheless, one of the translators (Xu Mingxian) first met him in 1979. It was the first time I went to Cambridge to attend the seminar of Hawking Group on general relativity. After the door was opened, a very weak electric sound suddenly sounded behind his head. Looking back, I saw a scrawny man reclining in an electric wheelchair and turning on the electric switch himself. Try to be polite and not too surprised. However, he is used to being surprised at the degree of disability of people who meet for the first time. He has to work hard to raise his head. Before he lost his voice, he could only speak in a very weak deformed language and could not understand it until he worked and lived with him for several months. He can't write, so he has to turn pages by machine. When reading literary works, he must spread out every page on a big desk. Then he drives a wheelchair and reads page by page like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves. People have to pay deep respect to the human soul who pursues the ultimate truth with such a strong will. From his help to the translator's private affairs, we can realize that he is a friendly person. Every day, he must drive a wheelchair from his home at No.5 Cambridge West Road, cross the beautiful Jianhe River and the ancient King's College, and reach the office of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Yin Jie. The department specially built it to facilitate him to take a wheelchair.

At Cambridge University, which is rich in academic tradition, he currently holds perhaps the highest professorship ever, namely Lucas Professor of Mathematics, who was once held by Newton and Dirac.

One of the translators of this book was taught by Hawking for four years and completed his doctoral thesis under his guidance. This book was translated into Chinese at Hawking's request, so that one fifth of the human population could understand his theory.

He also proved the area theorem of black holes. Hawking's life is very legendary, and he is one of the most outstanding scientists in history in scientific achievements. His position is the most lofty professor at Cambridge University, that is, Lucas Professor of Mathematics held by Newton and Dirac. He holds several honorary degrees and is a member of the Royal Society.

He was confined to a wheelchair for 40 years because of "gradual freezing" (Luger's disease of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), but he was physically and mentally disabled and turned it into an advantage, overcoming his disability and becoming a supernova in the international physics community. He can't write or even slur his words, but he transcends relativity, quantum mechanics and the Big Bang theory and enters the "geometric dance" to create the universe.

Hawking's charm lies not only in his legendary physical genius, but also in his convincing life force. His constant pursuit of scientific spirit and brave personality strength deeply attracted everyone who knew him.

He is known as "the greatest living scientist", "another Einstein", "an out-and-out man in life" and "a man who dares to challenge his destiny".