It’s hard not to be a fan of Stephen Hawking, a renowned theoretical physicist, says a Red Deer College instructor.
Robbie Halonen, a physics and astronomy instructor at Red Deer College, said it would be unlikely to find someone in physics and astronomy who wasn’t a fan – to some degree – of Hawking.
Hawking, a scientist and an author died Wednesday in Cambridge, England at the age of 76.
“He had an incredible mind – a one-of-a-kind mind,” said Halonen.
Hawking, known for being in a wheelchair and speaking in an electronic voice, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He was diagnosed with the condition at the age of 21.
Halonen said the way he overcame his condition for so long is an inspiration to everyone, “even if you don’t appreciate the magnitude of the work he did in science.
The instructor at RDC’s department of science said Hawking made science popular, which doesn’t happen often.
“Rarely do scientists attain the celebrity status that athletes or actors do,” said Halonen, adding that he became a pop culture icon and made appearances TV shows like The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek.
He said he believes Hawking was the physicist of his generation. The now 33-year-old instructor was inspired by him, reading his books in high school and then re-reading them later in life.
Halonen said, he had many major achievements, but his most notable contribution was that black holes do emit a little bit of radiation and therefore a little bit of energy is lost from a black hole – an idea dubbed “Hawking radiation.”
“This means black holes can actually shrink and eventually disappear,” said Halonen.
What Halonen finds interesting is the fact that Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s death, and died on anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth in 1879.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter