Stephen Hawking is considered the world"s foremost living theoretical physicist. He"s an expert on black holes whose stated intention is to unify quantum mechanics with Einstein"s general theory of relativity, forming a single theory to explain the origin (and end) of the universe. Hawking, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, is the author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time and something of a celebrity: he has made guest appearances on the TV shows Star Trek and The Simpsons. Hawking has suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig"s disease) since he was a young man and is confined to a wheelchair.
In 1974 Hawking calculated that black holes emit a form of energy now known as Hawking radiation. Since then he has analyzed the shape and fate of the universe in technical studies and popular books. Although Hawking has been afflicted with severe progressive muscle degeneration since the early 1960s, he manages with the use of a speech synthesizer to continue as Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University (since 1979), the chair once held by Isaac Newton.
In 1979 Hawking took the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. According to Hawking"s own site, "The chair was founded in 1663 with money left in the will of the Reverend Henry Lucas, who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow, and then in 1663 by Isaac Newton."
