Today, I will be reviewing the book “My Brief History“, an autobiography by the renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Published in 2013, five years before his death in 2018, Hawking recounts his personal life, his academic journey, his groundbreaking scientific work, and the progression of his neurodegenerative disease, ALS.

As a great admirer of Stephen Hawking, I’m astounded by how, despite his formidable medical challenges, he achieved feats that many able-bodied individuals could only dream of. He is a beacon of admiration and inspiration to many, including myself.

I have watched the movie about his life, “The Theory of Everything“, released in 2014 during his lifetime, multiple times. This movie was based on the memoir, “Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen,” written by Jane Hawking, Stephen’s first wife.

In “My Brief History,” Hawking shares that he was born in 1942, exactly 300 years after Galileo’s death. Galileo, who stirred controversy by asserting that the Earth orbits the Sun, was found guilty of heresy, and spent the final nine years of his life under house arrest. Fast forward 300 years, Hawking had the opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II.

Being in a wheelchair, Hawking had the unique experience of seeing the Pope kneel to be close enough to hear him speak. This certainly contrasts with Galileo’s era when he was imprisoned for his scientific views, indicating a significant change in the relationship between science and the Church.

He was born in Oxford during World War II, his family’s home was in London, a city being bombarded by the Germans. Britain had a pact with Germany not to bomb Oxford and Cambridge, while in return, the British would not bomb Heidelberg and Göttingen, hence sparing these university towns.

Raised in a middle-class family, his father studied tropical medicine and often embarked on various trips. Despite their modest means, which caused young Hawking some embarrassment – for instance, due to their old car – he developed a passion for reading from the age of eight.

He attended school in St Albans, pursued his undergraduate degree at Oxford where he served as a cox on the boat team, and later completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge in 1962.

During his last year at Cambridge, Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease in the United States, named after the famous baseball player diagnosed with the disease in the 1930s. This specific type of motor neuron disease affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and leads to the progressive degeneration of motor neurons which control voluntary muscles.

It usually does not impair cognitive ability, a fact that stood true for Hawking. Despite losing motor control and later his speech, swallowing, and ultimately, breathing capabilities, his cognition remained intact. He lived with this debilitating disease for over 50 years.

The diagnosis triggered Hawking to make the most of his remaining time, returning to Cambridge to finish his Ph.D. and contributing to science to his fullest extent. His ethos was, “If I was going to die anyway, I might as well do something good.” He completed his Ph.D., got married, and pursued his career as a physicist, which he immensely enjoyed. Quoting someone in his book, he wrote, “Scientists and prostitutes get paid for doing what they enjoy.” He married Jane in 1965 and they had three children.

“One has to be grown up enough to realize that life is not fair,” he once said. “You just have to do the best you can in the situation you are in. Because each new day could be my last, I have developed a desire to make the most of each and every minute. We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

This book delves into several key scientific concepts. Before the discovery of the Big Bang theory, people believed in the Steady State theory, which proposed that the universe has no beginning and no end. It looks the same from any view and at any time.

The universe expanded, new matter was continuously created to keep the density constant. This theory was debunked when the background microwave radiation was discovered in 1964, solidifying the Big Bang theory as the prevailing explanation for the universe’s creation.

Most of Hawking’s work focused on black holes, regions of space-time with incredibly strong gravitational fields and high density from which even light cannot escape. The star’s mass determines its fate after exhausting its nuclear fuel.

Low mass stars, those less than eight times the size of the Sun, end up as white dwarf stars. Massive stars undergo a supernova explosion and the core’s collapse is halted, forming a neutron star. Extremely massive stars, those 20 times or more the mass of the Sun, collapse into a black hole after exhausting their nuclear fuel, creating a region in space-time from which nothing can escape.

In the realm of cosmology, singularities refer to points in space-time where quantities like density and gravitational force become infinite. These singularities exist at the center of black holes. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, established in 1915, describes gravity not as a force but as a curvature of space-time caused by mass and energy.

However, the theory breaks down at these singularities, leading to undefined quantities and an inability to predict outcomes. Scientists believe that a theory of quantum gravity is required, combining principles from general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Hawking is best known for his work on black holes. His most significant scientific accomplishment is arguably the theoretical prediction that black holes can emit radiation, known as Hawking radiation. Hawking’s work was groundbreaking as it combined principles from quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of particles at the smallest scales, and general relativity.

Before Hawking’s work, black holes were thought to be entirely black, absorbing everything, including light, but not emitting anything. Hawking’s calculations, however, showed that due to quantum effects at the boundaries of a black hole (event horizon), it could emit radiation.

Despite this, Hawking radiation has not been observed directly due to its extraordinarily weak nature and the technological limitations of detecting it from naturally occurring black holes. This is likely why Hawking was not awarded the Nobel Prize for his prediction of Hawking radiation.

A significant portion of this book is dedicated to discussing Hawking’s contribution to cosmology and theoretical physics. This includes his work on singularities, points of infinite density predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity.

He also discusses his contributions to general relativity and the discovery of Hawking radiation, the theoretical prediction that black holes can emit radiation due to quantum effects. He also talks about the writing of his best-selling science book, “A Brief History of Time.”

Though not specifically mentioned in this book, it is important to note that our own Milky Way galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole known not as a star, but as Sagittarius A*. This black hole is about 4.6 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light years away from Earth, towards the Sagittarius constellation. Astronomers cannot observe the black hole directly since it does not emit light, but they can infer its presence as it influences the orbit of stars near the center of the galaxy.

In his personal life, Hawking was faced with the reality of his deteriorating health. His wife, Jane, was aware of this, and invited a man named Jonathan to live with them. Her justification was that they needed someone to take care of their young children after Hawking’s death.

This led to a peculiar and potentially agonizing situation for Hawking. In 1990, he moved out of the house and eventually married his nurse. This marriage also ended in divorce, due to the immense task of taking care of Hawking. The psychological effects of these circumstances were undoubtedly immense, but Hawking continued to produce high-quality work.

As Hawking’s health deteriorated further, he lost his ability to write, and began to use a switch activated by the movement of his hand to control a computer. Eventually, as he lost control of his muscles, he controlled the switch with the movement of his cheek muscles.

Intel provided him with the computers that allowed him to communicate much more efficiently than before. He could manage to communicate up to three words a minute. Despite this limitation, he wrote seven books and numerous scientific papers. His book, “A Brief History of Time”, consists of 53,000 words. At the rate of three words per minute, it would have taken him nearly 300 hours just to dictate the book, not including drafts, revisions, and research.

This monumental effort serves as an inspiration for anyone wishing to write a book. If Hawking could do it at three words per minute, what’s stopping an able person from pursuing their goal? At one point, he was even writing slower than this, yet he was grateful for the speed he had. His mindset, determination, and dedication are astounding.

Finally, he talks about time travel, explaining that, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it is theoretically possible. For instance, he discusses the concept of wormholes, shortcuts through space-time that could potentially allow for faster-than-light travel, and consequently, time travel.

However, he also mentions the many practical and theoretical problems with time travel. He notes that any wormhole that could allow for time travel would likely collapse as soon as anything tried to pass through it. Moreover, the laws of physics may prevent time travel to the past to preserve causality, the principle that cause precedes effect.

In the final chapter, he reflects on his life. When he was first diagnosed, he thought his life was over. However, 50 years later, he expressed satisfaction with his life. Despite his disability, he has married twice, had three children, made numerous discoveries, won numerous awards in physics, and travelled extensively.

He has delivered lectures all over the world, met numerous world leaders, been in a submarine, in a hot air balloon, and has even booked a ride on Virgin Galactic’s space tour. This serves as a testament to human resilience and is a great source of motivation for everyone, showing that with strong determination, one can overcome any obstacles.