爱华网Hawking grew up outside London.His father was a doctor,his motherwas active in politics.He was not a smart schoolboy,but knew fromearly on that he would study science.He became good at mathematicsand in 1958 he and some friends built a simple computer thaactually worked.In 1959 he won a scholarship to OxfordUniversity.In 1962 he got his degree with honors and went toCambridge University to get a PhD in astronmy.There he becomeinterested in black holes.After receiving his PhD,he statyed atCambridge,becoming known even in his middle 20s for his pioneeringideas.
In 1968 he studied in the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge.Hepublished the very technical book,Large Scale Structure ofSpace-Time and afterwards made a great discovery.It had always beenthought that nothing could escape a balck hole.He continude workingon the theory of the origin of the universe.
At the age of 32,he was named a fellow of the Royal Society;at thesame year he received the Albret Einstien Award.Five years later,in1979,he was appointed Top Professor of Mathematics atCambridge,which was held by Sir Isaac Newton 300 yearsearlier.
In 1988 Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time,which became abest-seller.He wrote other popular articles and appeared in moviesand television.He remains extremely busy,and his work hardly slowedby the disease that affects muscle cintrol,for which he uses awheelchair and speaks though a speech computer.He said,"My goal issimple.It is complete understanding of the unverse,why it is as itis and why it exists at all."
斯蒂芬·霍金生于伽利略去世300周年纪念日。他是自阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦以来物理学界最伟大的人物。
霍金是在伦敦郊区长大的。他的父亲曾是一位医生，而母亲是政治活动者。霍金在学校时并不很聪明，但他很早就立志要学习自然科学。他渐渐在数学方面展露特长，1958年他和一些朋友一起组装了一台简单的能够进行实际运算的计算机。1959年，他获得了牛津大学的奖学金。1962年，他以优异成绩获得了学位，并前往剑桥大学攻读天文学博士。在那里，他开始对黑洞感兴趣。在获得博士学位后，他继续留在剑桥，在他二十几岁的时候就由于他的创造性的想法而闻名。
1968年，他在剑桥大学的天文研究所做研究。他出版了一本非常专业的书《时空的大尺度结构》，之后又作出了一项重大发现。一度科学家们认为没有任何物质能逃离黑洞的捕捉。他继续研究宇宙起源的理论。
32岁的时候，他进入了皇家科学院；同年，他又获得了阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦奖。五年后，也就是1979年，他被任命为剑桥大学数学系的首席教授，这个数学系是以萨克·牛顿爵士在300年前创办的。
1988年，霍金写了《时间简史》一书，这本书成为了一本畅销书。他又写了其他一些受欢迎的文章，并在电影和电视上露面。他一直都相当忙碌，他的工作很少因为疾病而受到耽误，这是一种会影响到肌肉控制的疾病，也因为如此，他需要坐在轮椅上，并且通过一台语言电脑讲话。他说：“我的目标很简单。就是完全了解宇宙，为什么它是现在这样和为什么它存在。”
