Stephen Hawking
“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image”
I don’t think there’s anyone around that would disagree with the following statement: Hawking is a bright chap. A person who dares to get up to their necks in obscure physics deserves a prize whether they understand it or not. Someone that dives in head long and actually makes headway is amazing.
Hawking was born into a relatively poor but intelligent family. The family was known locally as being a little eccentric, for example family meal times were often spent in silence, reading. Their focus was on education above all.
“Nothing cannot exist forever”
As a boy we can safely assume he was one of the geek brigade, he spent time with friends playing board games and manufacturing fireworks, model aeroplanes and boats. His gang also enjoyed long discussions about Christianity and extrasensory perception for good measure.
At Oxford University his first year was pretty dull, he found the work embarrassingly easy and because he was slightly younger didn’t make any friends. In his second year things changed; he joined the Boat Club and made a name for himself as somewhat of a daredevil. He was known to lead his team on difficult courses and damage the University’s boats.
He was considered a bit of a pain and a rabble-rouser by lecturers and tutors, during exams he would only answer theoretical questions and ignore factual ones.
In his finals he needed a First to get into Cambridge, so he crammed hard. His final mark was on the cusp of First and Second so he had to go for an oral viva. In the viva, when asked about his future plans he said “If you award me a First, I will go to Cambridge. If I receive a Second, I shall stay in Oxford, so I expect you will give me a First”. He was awarded a First, and the bribery probably wasn’t necessary. Everyone knew he was a genius.
“No one can resist the idea of a crippled genius”
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