Stephen Hawking needs very little introduction. The British theoretical physicist and Pink Floyd collaborator with the wheelchair, the American-accented Speak'n'Spell voice and the 'default brainbox' status - Hawking has, since the publication of The Brief History of Time in 1988, been the exemplar of the kind of baffling-to-laymen MegaScience which most people accept as being 'clever' but never get round to exploring.
Maybe that's just me. I'm sure with some applied thinking i could begin to grasp the ins and outs of theoretical physics, but I'm too busy with downloading rare krautrock records, the BBC's iplayer facility and worrying about my bike to squeeze in any kind of Physics for Dummies-style home study. What can I say? I live in a dumbed-down world.
Aside from his achievments in Big Science, however, Hawking has had to live virtuaally all his life with Motor Neurone Disease, confining him to a wheelchair and requiring him to speak through the aformentioned speech program. He seems to have done alright besides this considerable hindrance, and is rightly admired for (and I hesitate to use perjorative terms such as this) 'battling' his disease and continuing with his life, and with his work.
His website has a short essay by Hawking, entitled "Professor Hawking's Disability Advice". It is a matter-of-fact, unsensationalist yet inspiring read:
Before my condition had been diagnosed, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt that I was going to be executed. I suddenly realised that there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do if I were reprieved. Another dream, that I had several times, was that I would sacrifice my life to save others. After all, if I were going to die anyway, it might as well do some good. But I didn't die. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before.
(...)
I have had motor neurone disease for practically all my adult life. Yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family, and being successful in my work. This is thanks to the help I have received from Jane, my children, and a large number of other people and organisations. I have been lucky, that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.
Happy Birthday, Stephen.
And the quote for today...
"Perhaps it's only coincidence, but man's best friend can't talk"
An anonymous quote. Someone should have told this lot:
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