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Question 1: How has Stephen Hawking's life changed since the disease over took him and has it made any changes to his interest in cosmology?. The disease confined him to a wheelchair Diagnosed at 21, in 1963 Lost control of almost all muscles Speech deteriorated
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Question 1: How has Stephen Hawking's life changed since the disease over took him and has it made any changes to his interest in cosmology?
The disease confined him to a wheelchair • Diagnosed at 21, in 1963 • Lost control of almost all muscles • Speech deteriorated • pneumonia and a tracheotomy left him able to converse or write only by signaling when someone pointed to a list of words, letters, or items. (“Stephen Hawking”) • His disease has not affected his interest in cosmology although it has made it more difficult for him to go about completing his research on his own. • The disease does not affect his brain, only his muscles • Stephen Hawking was determined to continue his research despite his medical condition • Mind still functions at its highest levels (“Stephen Hawking: A Biography”)
Question 2: How do the medical problems Stephen Hawking has limit how much he can do and how much he can be involved in his own research?
Stephen Hawking has to use a computer to talk since he lost his voice permanently due to his disease. • He must depend on his co-researchers to do the physical work for him. (“Stephen Hawking: A Biography”) • Stephen Hawking must speak to write his books • He can not physically do any of his work, he can only think it and speak it through a synthesizer • Completely dependent on electronics to communicate and do his work (“Stephen Hawking BBC”)
Question 6: How many times a day does he need medical assistance and for what problems?
Around the clock care • UK has kept him alive on breathing, feeding, and speech machines • Has a 40 person medical team taking care of him (“why his ALS is not fatal”) • Has needed around the clock care since he caught pneumonia in 1985 • Death can be caused by collapse of throat muscles • Some scientists are studying Hawking’s disease for genetic mutations (“Newsvine”)
Question 3: How does Stephen Hawking talk through his computer?
Computer generated voice • Depends on an advanced voice synthesizer • “DECtalk DTCO1 voice synthesizer, which was a revolutionary technology based on an algorithm written by MIT student Dennis Klatt in the early 1980s” • Predictive text program that predicts words formed by cheek muscles (Pilgrim) • Takes him a few minutes to complete what he wants to say before the synthesizer repeats his words • “switched on to the NeoSpeech's Voice Text speech synthesizer” • Stephen Hawking believes his current synthesizer is the most natural and easy to use speech technology • Also uses technology for phone calls, e-mail, etc. (Hanlon)
Question 4: How does Stephen Hawking represent his time period?
In the time Stephen Hawking was born, there were a lot of questions about the universe being presented • There were many studies regarding dark matter and black holes • His modern studies in science have “turned yesterdays science fiction into today’s science fact” • Currently sits in the seat of Sir Isaac Newton, representing the importance of science to the modern world at Royal Society (“Stephen Hawking-Important”) • Due to him being bale to survive ALS disease, it has earned him a high reputation and considered to be one of the greatest minds of today (Jules)
Question 5: How many cosmological research investigations has Stephen Hawking done and what are the main themes of his research?
Stephen Hawking has written 5 books and has 212 publications to date • He focuses mainly on the concepts of gravity, black holes, and worm holes (“Stephen Hawking-home”) • Main focus in general after obtaining PhD was the basic laws that govern the universe. • Between 1970 and 1974, began to focus on black holes (“Stephen Hawking-important”)
Question 7: What awards has Stephen Hawking received and how many?
He has won 15 awards to date • Received awards for achievements' in cosmology, physics, mathematics and theoretical cosmology (“Stephen Hawking Biography”) • He was integrated into the Royal Society • Biggest honor he received was the introduction to the Royal society • Received most awards at society (“Lucasian Chair”)
Question #8What are some future research projects Hawking plans to do?
Wants to investigate time and how it works and if we can use it to our advantage • Stephen Hawking is looking to construct a working time machine • (Hawking) • Believes that the earth is disposable and humans need to find a way to expand into space (“open the Future”)