For years and years I heard the name Stephen Hawking. I knew that he was smart and that he had some sort of disability but that was the extent of what I knew. I never knew what he did for science and how inspiring he really was. Why had I not known this sooner. Why did it take for him dieing for me to find out more about him.
Recently Stephen Hawking passed and the world was devastated, but I did not understand what we really lost. That day I did some research about him just trying to get a grasp on who he really was. Just reading about him made me want to become a different person. Learning about what disease he had was about as far as I got before my attention was moved to something else and I almost forgot about him, but in the back of my mind I still needed to know more.
Stephen Hawking is a well know scientist who worked on theories about black holes and other topics relating to cosmology. He is also know for his battle with ALS. He was also a professor at Cambridge.
Today as I sit and write this I have just finished watching "The Theory of Everything," which is the 2014 film based on Hawking's relationship with his first wife. The movie not only encompasses their relationship but it shows how fast he deteriorates and how fast she falls for another man. Yet even with his disability and him and the mother of his children divorcing, he still keeps his head high and focuses on his study. The creators of the movie casted an excellent Hawking. The actor was able to encompass Hawking so close to who he really was. He even looked like him.
The mountains that Hawking had to overcome seemed like hills to him. When he first started to notice his symptoms he still working on become a doctor. When he had to walk with two canes he still went to present his thesis. He went on to write books on his studies and even a memoir.
Now to me this makes him the most inspiring man to ever live. A man who does not let anything stand in his way of his goal and still pursues one of the most advanced fields of study is an admirable one.
When most people think of Hawking, they think of a disabled man who defied science. But when I think of Hawking I am reminded of irony. Hawking's field of study happens to be in the field of science, yet science betrayed him.
To me I don't think of him as just a scientist, I think of him as a role model. To be able to overcome his disability and ignore what others think of him is admirable.
On my to-do list next is to read his memoir that was published in 2013. The book explains his life in more detail than anything ever published before. He wrote this book along others without being able to talk or write. Which yet again, is impressive.
Now after seeing this film and researching Sir. Stephen W. Hawking, he has quickly become my role model. I aspire to be as strong as Hawking himself. To be able to overcome any obstacle that life has to throw at me has always been my goal, but now I am determined to make it happen. I feel that everyone can do what he did, we just have to realize that we have it in us.
To be able to inspire so many people to better themselves is an accomplishment in and of itself.
His contributions to science are one of a kind. He took a concept that was presented to him in a different context and discovered something amazing. Something that no one else would have ever done.
Now why did a man so brilliant have to be cursed with such a disease. I believe that we are only given what we can handle and obviously he was able to handle the unimaginable.
"It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining."
~ Stephen W. Hawking (January 8th, 1942 - March 14th 2018)
