Stephen Hawking was one of the world's most brilliant minds. And his legacy will continue for years to come. He changed how we see the universe and our place in it, and he is remembered as a champion of scientific education and equality. He published several influential books that have shaped popular culture during his lifetime and after. His best-known work, A Brief History of Time (1988), has sold more than ten million copies and been translated into over thirty different languages. The book outlines some of Hawking's ideas on theoretical physics.
Whether you have had the chance to read the book or not, you will surely want to know about the exciting theories Hawking had proposed during his career. While some of these theories turned out to be accurate and have been proven by experimental science, others are yet to be established. To know more, read on.
A Little About Stephen Hawking
It might be easy to recognise Hawking as someone who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS and spoke through his specially designed voice synthesiser while being confined to his wheelchair. However, he was no less than a Rockstar scientist. Hawking showed immense potential from an early age with above-average intelligence, though he was not academically successful in his early school days. Later, he became interested in mathematics, cosmology and theoretical physics. He ended up pursuing the field in university and in his doctoral work. Stephen Hawking’s young age was chequered with difficulties as he wasn’t someone to follow institutional regulations and had little regard for syllabus-oriented studies.
Hawking started suffering from progressive motor neuron disorder since his postgraduate and doctoral days. Slowly, he lost his ability to move, talk and write. Despite such physical challenges, his extensive body of work in contemporary cosmology and theoretical physics can only be compared with Mozart, who was blind and composed entire symphonies in his mind. Along with many of his odd theories, Hawking had revolutionary perceptions regarding the birth of our universe. He was able to draw the attention of even ordinary people towards complex subjects like cosmology and theoretical physics, making them a part of popular scientific discourse.
Prominent Stephen Hawking Theories and Ideas:
The Big Bang theory
The existence of black holes
Hawking radiation
Hawking area theorem
Singularity theorem
The multiverse theory
The Theory of Everything
Stephen Hawking Aliens theory
General Theory of Relativity by Stephen Hawking
Many of his ideas, theories and mathematical proofs changed how we look at our universe and its origin. It would be an understatement to say he was a genius; he was way ahead of our times and single-handedly pushed forward the knowledge envelope regarding cosmology and theoretical physics.
4 Stephen Hawking Theories That Turned Out To Be Right
The Big Bang Theory
It was first propounded in his doctoral thesis, submitted in 1966. He took inspiration from the concept of black hole's space-time singularity proposed by Roger Penrose and applied it to explain the origin of the universe. According to his thesis, our universe originated at a specific finite time and space. Before that, it existed in a super-compact, super-dense state, known as the singularity. In Big Bang Theory, Stephen Hawking mathematically established the self-contradiction in Steady State Theory. Today, scientists universally recognise and accept his explanation.
Stephen Hawking Black Hole Theory
Stephen Hawking is almost synonymous with the Black Hole Theory in popular culture. Black holes are specific regions in the space-time universe where gravity is so strong that it doesn’t let even light to escape or pass through. Hawking mathematically proved that black holes originate when stars collapse under their own gravitational force. In 2019, the National Science Foundation published the first-ever visually captured proof of a black hole.
The Hawking Radiation
According to the celebrated scientist, this is what made up the universe! As per this Stephen Hawking theory, an event called Hawking radiation released mass energy and created particles out of nothing. These particles are called 'virtual photons' because they are not real until they are observed.
Virtual particles can be found throughout our universe, but they are never seen or known until they interact with other things. A recent laboratory experiment at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology confirmed the practical validity of the universal photons.
The Hawking Area Theorem
The area theorem predicted that the area of a black hole can only increase over time, but it can never decrease. In this theorem, Hawking also proposed that the total area of a black hole is the surface of the event-horizons around it. The recent discovery of gravitational waves emerging from the interaction of two separate black holes validates the Hawking area theorem after almost 46 years. He proposed the theory for the first time in 1970.
Stephen Hawking Theories’ List That Are Yet To Be Substantiated
Theoretical physics and cosmology are an ever-emerging, vast field of knowledge with minimal ways to prove a theory in a laboratory environment. Hence, physicists often depend on pure imagination and the mathematical soundness of any idea.
Many of Hawking's revolutionary ideas are yet to be validated with evidence. However, it does not make them incorrect.
6 Stephen Hawking Theories That Are Not Yet Validated With Evidence
The Multiverse theory
The Theory of Everything
Stephen Hawking Aliens theory
The Hawking Doomsday Prophecies
Stephen Hawking Time Machine Theory
The Hairy Black Hole theory
Finally
So, if you were wondering “what is Stephen Hawking famous for?”, you know now. He made it possible to understand the universe's evolution and what makes up the universe. It is his most significant contribution to the field of science. It's no surprise that Hawking was awarded an honorary degree in mathematics by Caltech, in addition to all his other accolades. Let us pledge to always remember this great scientist, who was also the very epitome of the human fighting spirit.