I’d like to take a moment, as we all are currently, to mourn the loss of astrophysicist Steven Hawking. He passed away in the morning of March 14th, 2018, at the age of 76.
When you live in a community as underrepresented as disabled people are, I suppose you could say the upside is that you don’t have to write many obituaries for public figures. However, the ones that you do have to write hit you kind of hard. For many people around the world, Hawking was not only the greatest scientific theorist since Einstein, but also the most widely recognizable wheelchair user in modern history. His lifelong issues with ALS were difficult and they were visible, which made the reality of his disability prominent in ways that challenged social norms. He could not be infantilized, because he was a grown man with children and a complex romantic history. He could not be spoken for because he maintained a voice of his own, and he couldn’t be ignored because to do so was to silence the thoughts of a scientific genius.
Steven Hawking was the greatest proof that a disabled person’s equipment was a part of them; after a complication damaged his vocal chords, he famously bought up the rights to a computer voice he often used in order to make it uniquely his. Steven used it in public appearances and in some cases, he even did his own voice acting with it, until the computerized voice was more publicly recognized than his previously strained voice.
He was, in many aspects, a disabled superstar, and reached larger realms of visibility than anyone previously thought possible. Very few people can be as intellectual as a groundbreaking physicist, but in many other ways all disabled people were just like him. Rest in Peace, Dr. Hawking.
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.
In memory of Stephen Hawking, 08.01.1942 —
14.03.2018
“Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and inquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding.”
I think in light of Stephen Hawking passing, I would like to remind everyone that ALS is a horrible tragic disease. Watching my best friend suffer from it has no joke been the single worst miserable thing. Ever. ALS had it’s 15 minutes of fame after the ice bucket challenge but I would really really encourage people to still raise awareness towards ALS and donate if it’s within their means. Stephen Hawking surviving so long and being able to continue to even just interact with others is in thanks to equipment and resources many ALS patients just don’t have. If you really loved Stephen Hawking please consider donating to the ALS Association or participating in an ALS walk/fundraising event!
With Stephen Hawking’s passing, today is a sad day for science. But amongst all his praise and achievements in the fields of physics, for me personally his biggest achievement was making a grand, full life despite the terrible misfortune of being diagnosed with ALS. It would have been easy to become a recluse, embittered with the hand he’d been dealt, a brilliant misanthrope. But this was a man who maintained his sense of humor and refused to be mentally beaten. Three years ago, he told One Direction fans that the theory of alternate universes could provide a reality where Zayn Malik was still in the band. He conducted an interview with John Oliver where his factual, deadpan delivery was funnier than his interviewer, managing the cheekiest grins as he did so. And let us not forget that Stephen Hawking is the only person to have ever portrayed themselves in a Star Trek episode (Next Generation, “Descent, Part 1″), where he appeared alongside actors portraying Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton, whom he proceeded to defeat in poker.
Hawking’s observations on black hole radiation, string theory, alternate universes and artificial intelligence are things that will probably forever remain beyond most of us. But we could all learn a thing or two from his humanity.
Steven Hawking‘s life proves what we should all know to be true: that intelligence without compassion is meaningless, and that every person who is truly intelligent knows caring deeply for others is the smartest choice a person can make
