Will there be soon a man like Stephen Hawking?
Stephen Hawking contributed most of his life to his work. Hawking pioneered research on one of the greatest mysteries of our universe. His work comprised of theories like the large-scale structure of space-time, Hawking-Penrose theorem, and primordial fluctuations. He was known for his groundbreaking work on black holes and relativity. Keeping Stephen Hawking as inspiration other scientists also aspire to attain such status in their respective work. The achievements and the domains of research of the following scientists do relate with Hawking.
Edward Witten
Witten was born on 26th of August. 1951. His source of inspiration was his father. His father worked as a theoretical physicist with specialization in gravitation and general relativity. This encouraged Witten to start his career as a physicist. He began his academic career in Park School of Baltimore in 1968. After getting his early education from there, he got enrolled in Brandeis University from where he received his Bachelor degree in History in 1971. He completed his Master’s in 1974 and got his doctorate degree in 1976 from Princeton. His association with this institute didn’t end there as he was appointed a Professor of Physics at Princeton after a few years.
Witten published many articles in the well-renowned papers like The New Republic and The Nation arguing about string theory, black holes and also on the concept of duality, space-time, and quantum mechanics. Edward Witten’s work has a unique combination of mathematical power and physics insight. His vast assortment of education and experience has enriched both the mathematics and physics field.
Witton has been honored with copious rewards including a MacArthur Grant (1982), the Fields Medal (1990), the Nemmers Prize in Mathematics (2000), the National Medal of Science (2002), Pythagoras Award (2005), the Henri Poincaré Prize (2006), the Crafoord Prize (2008), the Lorentz Medal (2010) the Isaac Newton Medal (2010), and the Fundamental Physics Prize (2012).
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg, a known American physicist, was born on May 3rd, 1933. He did his graduation from Bronx High School of Science in 1950. Later on, he did his Masters from Cornell University in 1954. Just like Witten, he got enrolled in Princeton University for his Ph.D. in Physics in 1957. Subsequently, after his Ph.D., he worked as a researcher at Columbia University (1957-1959) and the University of California, Berkeley (1959).
The popular domains of his work include unification of weak and electromagnetic interactions as well as particle physics, quantum field theory, supersymmetry, superstrings, and cosmology. He was also granted a Nobel Prize in physics for combining electromagnetism and for combining weak force into electroweak force.
Additionally, he published more than 250 articles on the theory of cosmology, evolution, elementary particles, gravity and quantum mechanics.
Sheldon Lee Glashow
He was born on December 5, 1932, in New York City to Russian parents. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science in the year 1950. After that, Sheldon Lee Glashow moved to Cornell University for his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954. Then, he added a Ph.D. degree in Physics from Harvard University to his resume to make it even more impressive. He worked as a professor of Physics and Mathematics at both Boston University and at Harvard University.
In addition to his teaching profession, he developed theories regarding Quarks, or in other words known as the elementary particles. Subsequently, it was in the 1960s that he began his work on electroweak unification models, which ultimately won him the Nobel Prize. Additionally, he worked with Howard Georgi in 1973 and developed the first grand unified theory. This work was the groundwork for all forthcoming uniting work.
All the mentioned researchers have excelled in their respective fields and incline to keep on struggling to achieve the goal that Stephen Hawking has set for his fellow scientists. The present state of their work is yet to be refined to accomplish the standard that Hawking had attained.
Physicists working on different theories tend to agree that the work done by Stephen Hawking was commendable. He achieved what many don’t even dream about. He was consumed by his work. He was the one that said,
“Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it.”
Various sources have compared Einstein’s intellect with Hawking’s, leaving people to wonder whether or not he was the smartest person of his time. In light of all the research and his work, it can be safely assumed that it will not be an easy task to fill his boots.
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