Textbook: Stephen Hawking | English Kumarbharati Class 10 (Maharashtra SSC Board) PDF Download

 Page 1


Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is a 
British scientist, professor and author who has done 
groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and 
whose books have helped to make science accessible to 
everyone. At the age of 21, while studying cosmology 
at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life 
story was depicted in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of 
Everything.’
Over the years, Stephen Hawking has written or 
co-written a total of 15 books. A few of the most 
noteworthy include: The Grand Design, The Universe 
in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything.
In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international 
prominence with the publication of A Brief History of 
Time. The short, informative book became an account 
of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview 
of space and time, the existence of God and the future. 
The work was an instant success, spending more than 
four years atop the ‘London Sunday Times’ best-
seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of 
copies worldwide and been translated into more than 
40 languages. 
‘A Brief History of Time’ also wasn’t as easy to 
understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking 
followed up his book with ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ 
which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s 
big theories. 
Stephen Hawking (8
th
 January 1942 - 14
th
 March 2018) : He was an 
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research 
at the centre of theoretical cosmology within the Cambridge University. 
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a 
union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking 
was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime 
member of the Portificial Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. 
This lesson gives us an insight into the great scientist, his life and 
his works.
l cosmology : the
science of the origin
and development of
the universe.
l catapulted : launched
115
Page 2


Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is a 
British scientist, professor and author who has done 
groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and 
whose books have helped to make science accessible to 
everyone. At the age of 21, while studying cosmology 
at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life 
story was depicted in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of 
Everything.’
Over the years, Stephen Hawking has written or 
co-written a total of 15 books. A few of the most 
noteworthy include: The Grand Design, The Universe 
in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything.
In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international 
prominence with the publication of A Brief History of 
Time. The short, informative book became an account 
of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview 
of space and time, the existence of God and the future. 
The work was an instant success, spending more than 
four years atop the ‘London Sunday Times’ best-
seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of 
copies worldwide and been translated into more than 
40 languages. 
‘A Brief History of Time’ also wasn’t as easy to 
understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking 
followed up his book with ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ 
which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s 
big theories. 
Stephen Hawking (8
th
 January 1942 - 14
th
 March 2018) : He was an 
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research 
at the centre of theoretical cosmology within the Cambridge University. 
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a 
union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking 
was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime 
member of the Portificial Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. 
This lesson gives us an insight into the great scientist, his life and 
his works.
l cosmology : the
science of the origin
and development of
the universe.
l catapulted : launched
115
In 2005, Hawking authored the even more accessible 
‘A Briefer History of Time,’ which further simplified 
the original work’s core concepts and touched upon 
the newest developments in the field like String theory.   
Together these three books, along with Hawking’s 
own research and papers, articulate the physicist’s 
personal search for science’s Holy Grail: a single 
unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study 
of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the 
small) to explain how the universe began. It’s this kind 
of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who 
claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some 
big possibilities for humankind. He’s convinced that 
time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed 
colonize other planets in the future.
In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea 
that God could have created the universe in his book 
The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that 
belief in a creator could be compatible with modern 
scientific theories. His new work, however, concluded 
that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of 
the laws of physics and nothing more. “Because there 
is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will 
create itself from nothing,” Hawking said. “Spontaneous 
creation is the reason there is something rather than 
nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”
The Grand Design was Hawking’s first major 
publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, 
Hawking set out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton’s belief 
that the universe had to have been designed by God, 
simply because it could not have been born from chaos. 
l core : central, basic
l holy grail : (here)
a thing which is
eagerly pursued or
sought after
l dimensions : aspects,
features, facts
u What was Hawking
convinced of ?
116
Page 3


Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is a 
British scientist, professor and author who has done 
groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and 
whose books have helped to make science accessible to 
everyone. At the age of 21, while studying cosmology 
at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life 
story was depicted in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of 
Everything.’
Over the years, Stephen Hawking has written or 
co-written a total of 15 books. A few of the most 
noteworthy include: The Grand Design, The Universe 
in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything.
In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international 
prominence with the publication of A Brief History of 
Time. The short, informative book became an account 
of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview 
of space and time, the existence of God and the future. 
The work was an instant success, spending more than 
four years atop the ‘London Sunday Times’ best-
seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of 
copies worldwide and been translated into more than 
40 languages. 
‘A Brief History of Time’ also wasn’t as easy to 
understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking 
followed up his book with ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ 
which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s 
big theories. 
Stephen Hawking (8
th
 January 1942 - 14
th
 March 2018) : He was an 
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research 
at the centre of theoretical cosmology within the Cambridge University. 
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a 
union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking 
was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime 
member of the Portificial Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. 
This lesson gives us an insight into the great scientist, his life and 
his works.
l cosmology : the
science of the origin
and development of
the universe.
l catapulted : launched
115
In 2005, Hawking authored the even more accessible 
‘A Briefer History of Time,’ which further simplified 
the original work’s core concepts and touched upon 
the newest developments in the field like String theory.   
Together these three books, along with Hawking’s 
own research and papers, articulate the physicist’s 
personal search for science’s Holy Grail: a single 
unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study 
of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the 
small) to explain how the universe began. It’s this kind 
of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who 
claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some 
big possibilities for humankind. He’s convinced that 
time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed 
colonize other planets in the future.
In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea 
that God could have created the universe in his book 
The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that 
belief in a creator could be compatible with modern 
scientific theories. His new work, however, concluded 
that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of 
the laws of physics and nothing more. “Because there 
is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will 
create itself from nothing,” Hawking said. “Spontaneous 
creation is the reason there is something rather than 
nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”
The Grand Design was Hawking’s first major 
publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, 
Hawking set out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton’s belief 
that the universe had to have been designed by God, 
simply because it could not have been born from chaos. 
l core : central, basic
l holy grail : (here)
a thing which is
eagerly pursued or
sought after
l dimensions : aspects,
features, facts
u What was Hawking
convinced of ?
116
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue 
touch paper and set the universe going,” Hawking said.
At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed 
with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou 
Gehrig’s disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves 
that controlled his muscles were shutting down. At the 
time, doctors gave him two and a half years to live.
Hawking first began to notice problems with his 
physical health while he was at Oxford - on occasion 
he would trip and fall, or slur his speech - he didn’t 
look into the problem until 1963, during his first year 
at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept 
these symptoms to himself. But when his father took 
notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a 
doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college 
student made his home at a medical clinic, where he 
underwent a series of tests.
“They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck 
electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid 
into my spine, and watched it going up and down with 
X-rays, as they tilted the bed,” he once said. “After
all that, they didn’t tell me what I had, except that it
was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical
case.”
Eventually, however, doctors did diagnose Hawking 
with the early stages of ALS. It was devastating news 
for him and his family, but a few events prevented 
him from becoming completely despondent. The first 
of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. 
There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from 
leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going 
through, Hawking later reflected, his situation seemed 
more tolerable. Not long after he was released from 
the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going 
to be executed. He said this dream made him realize 
that there were still things to do with his life.
In a sense, Hawking’s disease helped him become 
the noted scientist he is today. Before the diagnosis, 
Hawking hadn’t always focused on his studies. “Before 
my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored 
with life,” he said. “There had not seemed to be 
anything worth doing.” With the sudden realization that 
he might not even live long enough to earn his Ph.D, 
l multiple sclerosis :
abnormal hardening
of body tissue
l atypical : very
unusual
l diagnose : detection
of a medical condition
l devastating : causing
a severe shock
l leukemia : a
malignant progressive
disease in which the
bone marrow and the
other blood forming
organs produce
increased numbers of
abnormal white blood
cells
u When did Hawking
first notice his health
problems ?
117
Page 4


Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is a 
British scientist, professor and author who has done 
groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and 
whose books have helped to make science accessible to 
everyone. At the age of 21, while studying cosmology 
at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life 
story was depicted in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of 
Everything.’
Over the years, Stephen Hawking has written or 
co-written a total of 15 books. A few of the most 
noteworthy include: The Grand Design, The Universe 
in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything.
In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international 
prominence with the publication of A Brief History of 
Time. The short, informative book became an account 
of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview 
of space and time, the existence of God and the future. 
The work was an instant success, spending more than 
four years atop the ‘London Sunday Times’ best-
seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of 
copies worldwide and been translated into more than 
40 languages. 
‘A Brief History of Time’ also wasn’t as easy to 
understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking 
followed up his book with ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ 
which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s 
big theories. 
Stephen Hawking (8
th
 January 1942 - 14
th
 March 2018) : He was an 
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research 
at the centre of theoretical cosmology within the Cambridge University. 
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a 
union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking 
was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime 
member of the Portificial Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. 
This lesson gives us an insight into the great scientist, his life and 
his works.
l cosmology : the
science of the origin
and development of
the universe.
l catapulted : launched
115
In 2005, Hawking authored the even more accessible 
‘A Briefer History of Time,’ which further simplified 
the original work’s core concepts and touched upon 
the newest developments in the field like String theory.   
Together these three books, along with Hawking’s 
own research and papers, articulate the physicist’s 
personal search for science’s Holy Grail: a single 
unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study 
of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the 
small) to explain how the universe began. It’s this kind 
of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who 
claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some 
big possibilities for humankind. He’s convinced that 
time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed 
colonize other planets in the future.
In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea 
that God could have created the universe in his book 
The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that 
belief in a creator could be compatible with modern 
scientific theories. His new work, however, concluded 
that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of 
the laws of physics and nothing more. “Because there 
is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will 
create itself from nothing,” Hawking said. “Spontaneous 
creation is the reason there is something rather than 
nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”
The Grand Design was Hawking’s first major 
publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, 
Hawking set out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton’s belief 
that the universe had to have been designed by God, 
simply because it could not have been born from chaos. 
l core : central, basic
l holy grail : (here)
a thing which is
eagerly pursued or
sought after
l dimensions : aspects,
features, facts
u What was Hawking
convinced of ?
116
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue 
touch paper and set the universe going,” Hawking said.
At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed 
with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou 
Gehrig’s disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves 
that controlled his muscles were shutting down. At the 
time, doctors gave him two and a half years to live.
Hawking first began to notice problems with his 
physical health while he was at Oxford - on occasion 
he would trip and fall, or slur his speech - he didn’t 
look into the problem until 1963, during his first year 
at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept 
these symptoms to himself. But when his father took 
notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a 
doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college 
student made his home at a medical clinic, where he 
underwent a series of tests.
“They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck 
electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid 
into my spine, and watched it going up and down with 
X-rays, as they tilted the bed,” he once said. “After
all that, they didn’t tell me what I had, except that it
was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical
case.”
Eventually, however, doctors did diagnose Hawking 
with the early stages of ALS. It was devastating news 
for him and his family, but a few events prevented 
him from becoming completely despondent. The first 
of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. 
There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from 
leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going 
through, Hawking later reflected, his situation seemed 
more tolerable. Not long after he was released from 
the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going 
to be executed. He said this dream made him realize 
that there were still things to do with his life.
In a sense, Hawking’s disease helped him become 
the noted scientist he is today. Before the diagnosis, 
Hawking hadn’t always focused on his studies. “Before 
my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored 
with life,” he said. “There had not seemed to be 
anything worth doing.” With the sudden realization that 
he might not even live long enough to earn his Ph.D, 
l multiple sclerosis :
abnormal hardening
of body tissue
l atypical : very
unusual
l diagnose : detection
of a medical condition
l devastating : causing
a severe shock
l leukemia : a
malignant progressive
disease in which the
bone marrow and the
other blood forming
organs produce
increased numbers of
abnormal white blood
cells
u When did Hawking
first notice his health
problems ?
117
Hawking poured himself into his work and research. 
As physical control over his body diminished (he’d 
be forced to use a wheelchair by 1969), the effects of 
his disease started to slow down. Over time, however, 
Hawking’s ever-expanding career was accompanied by 
an ever-worsening physical state. By the mid-1970s, 
the Hawking family had taken in one of Hawking’s 
graduate students to help manage his care and work. 
He could still feed himself and get out of bed, but 
virtually everything else required assistance. In addition, 
his speech had become increasingly slurred, so that 
only those who knew him well could understand 
him. In 1985 he lost his voice for good following a 
tracheotomy. The resulting situation required 24-hour 
nursing care for the acclaimed physicist.
It also put in peril Hawking’s ability to do his 
work. The predicament caught the attention of a 
California computer programmer, who had developed 
a speaking program that could be directed by head 
or eye movement. The invention allowed Hawking 
to select words on a computer screen that were then 
passed through a speech synthesizer. At the time of its 
introduction, Hawking, who still had use of his fingers, 
selected his words with a handheld clicker. Today, with 
virtually all control of his body gone, Hawking directs 
the program through a cheek muscle attached to a 
sensor.
Through the program, and the help of assistants, 
Stephen Hawking has continued to write at a prolific 
rate. His work has included numerous scientific papers, 
of course, but also information for the non-scientific 
community.
Hawking’s health, of course, remains a constant 
concern - a worry that was heightened in 2009 
when he failed to appear at a conference in Arizona 
because of a chest infection. In April, Hawking, who 
had already announced he was retiring after 30 years 
from the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at 
Cambridge, was rushed to the hospital for being what 
university officials described as “gravely ill.” It was 
later announced that he was expected to make a full 
recovery.
(He passed away on 14
th
 March, 2018.)
l tracheotomy :
an incision in the
windpipe made to
relieve an obstruction
to breathing.
l peril : serious and
immediate danger
l sensor : a device
which detects or
measures a physical
property and records,
indicates or otherwise
responds to it.
u What do Stephen
Hawking works
include ?
u What remains a
constant anxiety?
u In the mid 1970’s
what did the
Hawking’s family do ?
 Guess the meaning
of :
predicament :
u Why was Hawking
forced to use a
wheelchair ?
118
Page 5


Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942) is a 
British scientist, professor and author who has done 
groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology, and 
whose books have helped to make science accessible to 
everyone. At the age of 21, while studying cosmology 
at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Part of his life 
story was depicted in the 2014 film ‘The Theory of 
Everything.’
Over the years, Stephen Hawking has written or 
co-written a total of 15 books. A few of the most 
noteworthy include: The Grand Design, The Universe 
in a Nutshell, The Theory of Everything.
In 1988 Hawking catapulted to international 
prominence with the publication of A Brief History of 
Time. The short, informative book became an account 
of cosmology for the masses and offered an overview 
of space and time, the existence of God and the future. 
The work was an instant success, spending more than 
four years atop the ‘London Sunday Times’ best-
seller list. Since its publication, it has sold millions of 
copies worldwide and been translated into more than 
40 languages. 
‘A Brief History of Time’ also wasn’t as easy to 
understand as some had hoped. So in 2001, Hawking 
followed up his book with ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ 
which offered a more illustrated guide to cosmology’s 
big theories. 
Stephen Hawking (8
th
 January 1942 - 14
th
 March 2018) : He was an 
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research 
at the centre of theoretical cosmology within the Cambridge University. 
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a 
union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Hawking 
was an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime 
member of the Portificial Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. 
This lesson gives us an insight into the great scientist, his life and 
his works.
l cosmology : the
science of the origin
and development of
the universe.
l catapulted : launched
115
In 2005, Hawking authored the even more accessible 
‘A Briefer History of Time,’ which further simplified 
the original work’s core concepts and touched upon 
the newest developments in the field like String theory.   
Together these three books, along with Hawking’s 
own research and papers, articulate the physicist’s 
personal search for science’s Holy Grail: a single 
unifying theory that can combine cosmology (the study 
of the big) with quantum mechanics (the study of the 
small) to explain how the universe began. It’s this kind 
of ambitious thinking that has allowed Hawking, who 
claims he can think in 11 dimensions, to lay out some 
big possibilities for humankind. He’s convinced that 
time travel is possible, and that humans may indeed 
colonize other planets in the future.
In September 2010, Hawking spoke against the idea 
that God could have created the universe in his book 
The Grand Design. Hawking previously argued that 
belief in a creator could be compatible with modern 
scientific theories. His new work, however, concluded 
that the Big Bang was the inevitable consequence of 
the laws of physics and nothing more. “Because there 
is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will 
create itself from nothing,” Hawking said. “Spontaneous 
creation is the reason there is something rather than 
nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.”
The Grand Design was Hawking’s first major 
publication in almost a decade. Within his new work, 
Hawking set out to challenge Sir Isaac Newton’s belief 
that the universe had to have been designed by God, 
simply because it could not have been born from chaos. 
l core : central, basic
l holy grail : (here)
a thing which is
eagerly pursued or
sought after
l dimensions : aspects,
features, facts
u What was Hawking
convinced of ?
116
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue 
touch paper and set the universe going,” Hawking said.
At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed 
with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou 
Gehrig’s disease). In a very simple sense, the nerves 
that controlled his muscles were shutting down. At the 
time, doctors gave him two and a half years to live.
Hawking first began to notice problems with his 
physical health while he was at Oxford - on occasion 
he would trip and fall, or slur his speech - he didn’t 
look into the problem until 1963, during his first year 
at Cambridge. For the most part, Hawking had kept 
these symptoms to himself. But when his father took 
notice of the condition, he took Hawking to see a 
doctor. For the next two weeks, the 21-year-old college 
student made his home at a medical clinic, where he 
underwent a series of tests.
“They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck 
electrodes into me, and injected some radio-opaque fluid 
into my spine, and watched it going up and down with 
X-rays, as they tilted the bed,” he once said. “After
all that, they didn’t tell me what I had, except that it
was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an atypical
case.”
Eventually, however, doctors did diagnose Hawking 
with the early stages of ALS. It was devastating news 
for him and his family, but a few events prevented 
him from becoming completely despondent. The first 
of these came while Hawking was still in the hospital. 
There, he shared a room with a boy suffering from 
leukemia. Relative to what his roommate was going 
through, Hawking later reflected, his situation seemed 
more tolerable. Not long after he was released from 
the hospital, Hawking had a dream that he was going 
to be executed. He said this dream made him realize 
that there were still things to do with his life.
In a sense, Hawking’s disease helped him become 
the noted scientist he is today. Before the diagnosis, 
Hawking hadn’t always focused on his studies. “Before 
my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored 
with life,” he said. “There had not seemed to be 
anything worth doing.” With the sudden realization that 
he might not even live long enough to earn his Ph.D, 
l multiple sclerosis :
abnormal hardening
of body tissue
l atypical : very
unusual
l diagnose : detection
of a medical condition
l devastating : causing
a severe shock
l leukemia : a
malignant progressive
disease in which the
bone marrow and the
other blood forming
organs produce
increased numbers of
abnormal white blood
cells
u When did Hawking
first notice his health
problems ?
117
Hawking poured himself into his work and research. 
As physical control over his body diminished (he’d 
be forced to use a wheelchair by 1969), the effects of 
his disease started to slow down. Over time, however, 
Hawking’s ever-expanding career was accompanied by 
an ever-worsening physical state. By the mid-1970s, 
the Hawking family had taken in one of Hawking’s 
graduate students to help manage his care and work. 
He could still feed himself and get out of bed, but 
virtually everything else required assistance. In addition, 
his speech had become increasingly slurred, so that 
only those who knew him well could understand 
him. In 1985 he lost his voice for good following a 
tracheotomy. The resulting situation required 24-hour 
nursing care for the acclaimed physicist.
It also put in peril Hawking’s ability to do his 
work. The predicament caught the attention of a 
California computer programmer, who had developed 
a speaking program that could be directed by head 
or eye movement. The invention allowed Hawking 
to select words on a computer screen that were then 
passed through a speech synthesizer. At the time of its 
introduction, Hawking, who still had use of his fingers, 
selected his words with a handheld clicker. Today, with 
virtually all control of his body gone, Hawking directs 
the program through a cheek muscle attached to a 
sensor.
Through the program, and the help of assistants, 
Stephen Hawking has continued to write at a prolific 
rate. His work has included numerous scientific papers, 
of course, but also information for the non-scientific 
community.
Hawking’s health, of course, remains a constant 
concern - a worry that was heightened in 2009 
when he failed to appear at a conference in Arizona 
because of a chest infection. In April, Hawking, who 
had already announced he was retiring after 30 years 
from the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at 
Cambridge, was rushed to the hospital for being what 
university officials described as “gravely ill.” It was 
later announced that he was expected to make a full 
recovery.
(He passed away on 14
th
 March, 2018.)
l tracheotomy :
an incision in the
windpipe made to
relieve an obstruction
to breathing.
l peril : serious and
immediate danger
l sensor : a device
which detects or
measures a physical
property and records,
indicates or otherwise
responds to it.
u What do Stephen
Hawking works
include ?
u What remains a
constant anxiety?
u In the mid 1970’s
what did the
Hawking’s family do ?
 Guess the meaning
of :
predicament :
u Why was Hawking
forced to use a
wheelchair ?
118
1. Observe the time line and search the occurances according to it. Prepare a chart.
January 8, 1942
1969   forced to use wheel chair
1970
1988
year 2001 2005 2009 2010 2014
2. Make a list of books written by Stephen Hawking.
Name of the book What’s in it ? 
(topics covered)
His contribution to the 
world
1. (a) 
2. (b) 
3. (c) 
4. (d) 
3. Make a list of Hawking’s physical inabilities after 1963.
 (a) (d) 
 (b) (e) 
 (c) (f) 
4. Shape your mind. Complete the network of cluster diagram with the name of
great personalities and their contribution.
Field of 
Excellence
Mathematics
Fine 
art
Literature
Science
ENGLISH WORKSHOP 
119