Stephen William Hawking (Hawking Stephen William)

(p. 1942)
Born January 8, 1942 in Oxford. In 1962, received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics at University College, Oxford University, and in 1966 - a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Since 1965, working at Cambridge University (in 1968-1972 - at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, . in 1972-1973 - at the Institute of Astronomy, . in 1973-1975 - at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, . in 1975-1977 he taught the theory of gravity, . in 1977-1979 - Professor of gravitational physics, . 1979 - Professor of Mathematics),
. In 1974 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London. In 1988, for the study of black holes (with R. Penrose) received the Wolf Foundation Prize.
The main focus of Hawking's general theory of relativity (in particular, space-time singularity), the theory of gravity, theoretical astrophysics (gravitational collapse, black holes). In the mid 1960's Hocking (together with Penrose) proved the strongest of all the theorems about singularities (Theorem Hawking - Penrose). Showed that, given the nature of the expansion of the universe at the present stage of evolution and Einstein's theory of gravity must conclude that in the past, its density was far greater. In 1971, proposed a new mechanism of formation of black holes, showed that in the very early stages of the evolution of the Universe, at high temperature and pressure, could be formed low-mass black holes as small as the size of elementary particles. In mid-1970's developed a theory of 'evaporation' of black holes near the surface due to quantum effects and the pair of particles and antiparticles. According to previous theory, these objects could not lose weight.

In the early 1980's, along with Dzh.Hartlom Hawking has put forward a so-called. 'assume no boundaries'. Previously it was thought that the state of the universe at the time of the Big Bang can not be analyzed. The correctness of the assumptions Hawking - Hartle unlikely to ever be able to check, but it has specialists in cosmology basis for fruitful discussions.

Hawking's achievements all the more remarkable that since 1962 he was struck by a serious disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and can communicate with people only through a computer speech synthesizer. Hawking - author of several popular books on cosmology, including the global bestseller From the Big Bang to Black Holes. A Brief History of Time (A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, . 1990), . and the publication Black holes and the universe, infants and Other Essays (Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, . 1994) and - in collaboration with Dzh.Ellis - Large-Scale Structure of Space-Time (The Large-Scale Structure of Space-Time, . 1975).,