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The Student News Site of Van Nuys High School

The Mirror

The Student News Site of Van Nuys High School

The Mirror

Stephen Hawking: Losing his Light at 76

Stephen Hawking: Losing his Light at 76

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Stephen Hawking: Losing his Light at 76

SCIENCE: The brilliant physicist, astronomer, and thinker passes away and leaves the world in mourning.

Holden Mandell | Opinions Writer
March 16, 2018


Stephen Hawking was the man who conquered the stars from a wheelchair.

Hawking was born in Oxford, England in 1942. At the mere age of 17, he radiated brilliance, earning a scholarship to Oxford.

In his graduate years he fell into deep depression after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease with a prognosis of two years. However, he found encouragement and motivation to keep working even after the grim diagnosis.

Hawking advanced the singularity theorem and black hole physics to the next level. He found tremendous esteem on his black hole theories. He also covered the field of quantum gravity and mechanics. He founded Hawking Radiation, a key component in understanding mysterious black holes. He also wrote many famous sci-fi books such as “ A Brief History of Time.”

As previously mentioned he was given two years to live in 1963, but lived until 2018. While many have thought of Hawking as a boring physics professor beneath his paralyzed and unable-to-speak self was an energetic and passionate man. Before his diagnosis he was just like any other hyped up college boy.

“Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world,” Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, said in an interview.

Hawking captured the attention of the world with his answers to formidable black holes and the mysteriousness of the universe.

Despite his paralysis he was as adventurous as anyone. He participated in a zero-gravity flight aboard a boeing 727 in 2007. He has been to every continent including and Antarctica and would speed in his electric wheelchair to the point he crashed and broke his leg.

After his immediate depression following his diagnosis, Hawking used his short life prognosis as motivation to make the best of it. It gave him something to live for and was the purpose of his outstanding motivation and achievement throughout his life.

For communication, Hawking spoke through a computer with the slight movements of barely functioning fingers. When this did not work he chose words with his eyes for the machine to speak.

Hawking defied the expectations of the common man and ascended to be remembered for centuries in the history books.

His story is an inspiration to us all and he will forever be missed.


Holden Mandell is currently an opinion writer for The Mirror. He joined journalism in his junior year and has been part of journalism for a little over a semester.

Holden enjoys debating politics and culture with friends and its impacts on society. He has fun playing video games like League of Legends. Holden identifies as a libertarian with many mainstream conservative values. In his spare time he takes interest to listen to podcasts, watch Youtube videos, and play video games with his friends.


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