MY BRIEF

HISTORY

S te p h e n H a w k i n g

INTRODUCTION: A SENSE OF

WONDER

y life has been a quest to

understand the universe. Looking

back from my eighth decade, I see a

journey that was both improbable and

inevitable. People often think of me as a

man trapped in a chair, but in my mind, I

have been free to explore the deepest

mysteries of space and time. This is the

story of how a boy from St Albans became

a physicist obsessed with the origin of

everything.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 3

CHILDHOOD AND ST ALBANS

was born on January 8, 1942—exactly

three hundred years after the death of

Galileo. Though my parents lived in

London, the German V-2 rockets made it a

dangerous place for a birth, so my mother

went to Oxford. We eventually settled in St

Albans. Our house was a large, rambling

place, and we were often considered an

eccentric family. My father was a

researcher in tropical medicine, and my

mother was a free thinker. Education was

the currency of our household.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 4

OXFORD

AND

THE

IDLE

UNDERGRADUATE

t Oxford, I was a bored student. The

prevailing attitude at University

College was that one should be 'brilliant

without effort.' I spent most of my time

rowing and socialising, calculating that I

did about a thousand hours of work in my

three years there—an average of an hour a

day. Yet, physics called to me. I wanted to

know the big 'Why.' When I faced my

finals, I told the examiners that if they gave

me a First, I would go to Cambridge; if

they gave me a Second, I would stay at

Oxford. They gave me a First.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 5

CAMBRIDGE AND THE DIAGNOSIS

ambridge was where my life changed

forever. Shortly after arriving to

begin my PhD, I noticed I was becoming

increasingly clumsy. After a series of tests, I

was diagnosed with ALS—motor neurone

disease. I was twenty-one, and the doctors

gave me two years to live. The universe

seemed to be closing its doors. But then

two things happened: I met Jane Wilde,

and I realized that if I was going to die, I

might as well do some good with the time I

had left.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 6

THE QUEST FOR THE BEGINNING

y research focused on general

relativity and cosmology. Working

with Roger Penrose, we showed that if the

universe obeyed general relativity, it must

have begun at a singularity—the Big Bang.

This was the moment of creation,

described by math. I became fascinated by

black holes, eventually discovering that

they weren't completely black but emitted

radiation—now known as Hawking

Radiation. It was the first step toward a

'Theory of Everything' that would unite

gravity and quantum mechanics.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 7

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME

y the 1980s, I wanted to write a book

about the universe that could be sold

at airport bookstalls. My editors warned

me that every equation would halve the

sales, so I included only one: E=mc². The

success of 'A Brief History of Time' was

staggering. It stayed on the bestseller lists

for years. Suddenly, I was a public figure, a

symbol of the power of the mind over

physical limitations.

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 8

REFLECTIONS ON THE UNIVERSE

have travelled the world, from the

Great Wall of China to the zero-gravity

environment of a modified Boeing 727. I

have seen the face of physics change, and I

have seen the human spirit endure. We are

just an advanced breed of monkeys on a

minor planet of a very average star. But we

can understand the Universe. That makes

us something very special. Remember to

look up at the stars and not down at your

feet.

A Timeline of the Cosmos & Career

1942: Born in Oxford, UK

1959: Enters University College, Oxford

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography — page 9

1963: Diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease

1965: Marries Jane Wilde; Completes PhD

1974: Proposes Hawking Radiation

1979: Appointed Lucasian Professor of

Mathematics

1988: Publication of 'A Brief History of Time'

2013: Publication of 'My Brief History'

2018: Return to the Stardust

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking Physicist and Cosmologist Autobiography

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