Stephen Hawking hospitalized, reported very ill

[Sinatra]

Hawking yearns for truth, and therein can be found the divinity within...

 

[Indiana Oracle]

Stephen Hawking hospitalized, reported very ill

LONDON – Stephen Hawking, the British mathematician and physicist famed for his work on black holes, was rushed to a hospital Monday and was seriously ill, Cambridge University said. Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks and was being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, the university city northeast of London, the university said.

"Professor Hawking is very ill," said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. "He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks."

Later in the afternoon, Hayman said Hawking was "now comfortable but will be kept in hospital overnight."

The illness had caused Hawking to cancel an appearance at Arizona State University on April 6.

Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with ALS, (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

What a struggle his life has been. How much he has given the world...

My thoughts as well. Did not wholly agree with his views when they moved beyond scientific discovery, but as a scientist and an illustration of what determination has the potential to unlock in us, he is great man.

 

[user_name_guest]

No Al Gore statement yet. I would have thought that the illness to the great mind of Stephen Hawkins could be linked to global warming.

 

[Sarah G]

Stephen Hawking hospitalized, reported very ill

LONDON – Stephen Hawking, the British mathematician and physicist famed for his work on black holes, was rushed to a hospital Monday and was seriously ill, Cambridge University said. Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks and was being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, the university city northeast of London, the university said.

"Professor Hawking is very ill," said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. "He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks."

Later in the afternoon, Hayman said Hawking was "now comfortable but will be kept in hospital overnight."

The illness had caused Hawking to cancel an appearance at Arizona State University on April 6.

Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with ALS, (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

What a struggle his life has been. How much he has given the world...

My thoughts as well. Did not wholly agree with his views when they moved beyond scientific discovery, but as a scientist and an illustration of what determination has the potential to unlock in us, he is great man.

And a mathematical theory. God, I admire people like that but his disability seemed to equal his genius in contrast. He's a dichotomy.

He really is also a great man.

 

[waltky]

Tributes to Dr. Stephen Hawking...

'He Broke Boundaries With His Mind': Public Pays Tribute At Stephen Hawking's Funeral
March 31, 2018 - When the hearse carrying the body of Professor Stephen Hawking arrived at the university church of St. Mary the Great in Cambridge, the bell rang 76 times — to mark each year of the renowned physicist's life.

His coffin was draped with white flowers — lilies for the universe, roses for the polar star. Six pallbearers carried the coffin from Gonville & Caius College, where Hawking was a fellow for more than 50 years. Hawking's family invited around 500 guests for the private service. His oldest son Robert eulogized him. His former student, the British physicist Fay Dowker, said she had come to think of him as immortal. The actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, read Ecclesiastes 3.1-11. The choir of Gonville & Caius college sang "Beyond the Night Sky," a choral work composed as a gift to Hawking for his 75th birthday last year.

Nikos Orginos, 14, of Williamsburg, Va., teetered on a metal police railing to capture this view of Stephen Hawking's coffin as it left Cambridge University's church of St. Mary the Great.​

Hawking was an atheist. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," he once told The Guardian. "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." But because of his deep ties to Cambridge University, his family chose the customary Church of England service given to longtime fellows here. Outside the church, there were more admirers. They broke into applause when Hawking's coffin arrived. Some took selfies, others held up their phones and iPads over their heads, hoping to snap a glimpse of something. Fourteen-year-old Nikos Orginos climbed onto a metal police railing, balancing precariously as he snapped photos. "I had to find a way," he said. "Because I'm not going to see the man ever again. And he was a good scientist." "A great scientist," his father, Kostas Orginos, corrected him.

Like Hawking, Orginos is also a physics professor. He now teaches at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He's on sabbatical this year at Cambridge University. "My office was actually under Professor Hawking's office," Orginos said. "I saw him in his chair wandering around the building. Once I was close enough to hear him speak. He was talking to a colleague about a scientific issue. I regret that I didn't talk to him." Hawking was a hero to Orginos. When he was a boy studying mathematics in his native Greece, Orginos heard Hawking did math in his head because he wasn't able to speak or write. "And I would lay in bed at night, trying to solve homework problems in mathematics in my own head, without writing them out," Orginos said. "I couldn't. I was never able to understand how he managed to solve problems that way, all in his head."

His wife, Lily Panoussi, a classical studies professor at William and Mary, says her aunt, Georgia, died of ALS, the same disease that had gripped Hawking his entire adult life. "I know how devastating this disease can be," she said. "To me, he's someone who almost beat ALS, which is something that's unheard of. On top of all his accomplishments, he did that." Retiree Roy Harris, 75, was in Cambridge to go shopping when he got word about the funeral. He never understood exactly what Hawking did. "It was a bit beyond me, to be honest," he said. "But he was a great man. We are all so proud of him. As the service ended, the bells rang out again. Education activist Chris Imafidon brought his 17-year-old twin niece and nephew, Paula and Peter, to pay their respects.

Twins Paula and Peter Imafidon, 17, became the youngest secondary school students in Britain's history. Both say they're "awed" that the late Stephen Hawking became one of the greatest minds in recent memory even though he was stricken with ALS and couldn't move. "I find physics magical because of him," Paula says. "But he also taught me perseverance."​

Paula, who loves physics, was already a fan. Paula and Peter are both prodigies. At age 9, they became the youngest secondary school students in Britain. Paula, a math whiz, says Hawking inspired her to love physics. "Physics is like diving into the unknown," she said. "And he wasn't afraid to push the limits of the unknown. He literally had no boundaries although he was constrained physically. He broke those boundaries with his mind."

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