The cosmic mind passes into the realm of mystery
Thursday - March 15, 2018 9:22 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
The passing away of Stephen Hawking has left an irreplaceable void in the scientific firmament. Touted as the best science brain after Albert Einstein, Hawking’s contribution to the study of black holes and the beginning of the universe has given new directions to interstellar exploration and big bang theory of evolution. He has opened up new vistas of study by negating and dislodging many of the established theories which we have been believing in for years.
An average student in school and seen as a casual one in college as well, surprisingly Hawking hid in himself a goldmine of talent which gradually bloomed into what could be called the manifestation of a genius. He was the one who tried to correlate Einstein’s theory of relativity with quantum mechanics and wrote new treatise on that which shook up the scientific community to a new awakening.
But more than being a scientist, Hawking had grown into a global celebrity in brief time reaching a stature which very few from the community have the privilege to reach. This was basically because Stephen was an excellent communicator. It’s an irony that despite being unable to speak except through a computer coded language, Hawking could deliver his message so lucidly and widely to the world that many eloquent teachers struggled to explain. He turned the scientific language into the language of the layman which not only helped his popularity but also popularised science, making even the most abstruse theories a part of drawing room discussions. He wrote several books on science which were revelations for everyone not professionally or productively engaged with science.
But apart from being what professionally he was, Stephen’s greatness also lies in the fact that he was one of those rare humans who could joke and laugh at himself and his disability. He knew that life for him was a bonus, a grace period, he was blissfully living. Still in his early 20s, he was given just two years to live when hit by the neuromuscular ailment that would leave him paralysed for the rest of his life. But the two rolled on to five decades wherein he made his debilitated life an occasion of joy by his work and thoughts, laughing away all his miseries. The world needed him because of which he lived on amidst us for 76 years.
Strangely, he was born on the day when the world was celebrating Newton’s 300th birth anniversary and he died on the day when Einstein would have been 139. And call it a cosmic accident or what you would, Einstein also died aged 76. Even in his death Hawking proved that he belongs to the ilk of science’s greatest minds. But is there a scientist yet born who can carry over his legacy and complete his unfinished work? If someday we can conclude what work Hawking started and get to the core of creation’s mystery, then perhaps we will be able to offer him the fittest tribute. Till then let Prof Stephen Hawking, the seeker of truth, roam and explore in peace the resplendent alleys of the universe he so loved.-Window To News
