) Hawking-a genius in a wheelchair
At the beginning of the new millennium, the White House delivered a series of speeches, among which the speech with the theme of science was Imagination and Change-Science in the Next Millennium. Its speaker is Stephen Hawking, a professor of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge University in England, who is known as a "wheelchair genius". He is severely disabled and has only three fingers in his hand. This extremely disabled and intelligent scientist became the ideal candidate for this unusual speech.
Nicknamed "Einstein"
In the 1990s, it became fashionable to talk about cosmology. Although The Big Bang Theory is not new, it is novel in the public mind. Especially when it comes to Hawking, people show great interest and call him the best physicist since Einstein.
Hawking is English. He was born on194265438+1October 8th. This day happens to be the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo, an Italian physicist and founder of modern physics. A few days ago was Newton's birthday:1643 65438+1October 4th. Of course, this does not mean that the little Hawkins who landed was covered with a golden halo. In Hawking's own words, "I estimate that about 200,000 babies were born on the same day".
Like ordinary children, Hawking likes toys, is fascinated by toy trains, and even buys electric trains at his own expense. When he was a teenager, Hawking also liked to make airplane models and ship models, and even tried to invent some games, such as factories that make parts with different colors, roads and railways that transport products, and stock markets. Hawking and a classmate are responsible for writing the rules of the game. When compiling these games, Hawking's goal is to "build a movable model that I can control", and "these games and productions all come from the requirements of exploring and controlling things". This requirement has always driven Hawking to "explore things" and even played a role in later cosmological research.
During school, Hawking was assigned to a good class. Although he never ranked in the top half, he was still respected by his classmates, who gave him a nickname-Einstein. There are some good students in Hawking's class. They like listening to music, especially classical music, such as Mozart, Mahler and Beethoven. They also go to the concert hall to listen to music. They also often discuss some scientific and religious issues, such as the origin of the universe and whether the operation of the universe needs the role of God.
Look at the vast universe.
In the last two years of middle school, a math teacher came to the class. His teaching was enlightening and aroused Hawking's interest in mathematics and physics. Although his father encouraged him to study science, he hoped that he would study biology similar to his father's major. Recalling his study in middle school, Hawking said, "When I was young, I treated all sciences equally. After I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I knew I would do research in physics, because it was the most basic science, although I knew that middle school physics was too easy, too simple and too boring. Chemistry is much more interesting, and many unexpected things keep happening, such as explosions and so on. But physics and astronomy are expected to solve the problem of where we come from and why we are here. I want to explore the secrets of the universe. " It can be seen that although the young Hawking is not ambitious, "wanting to explore the inner details of the universe" will definitely have an impact on his later research.
After graduating from high school, Hawking was admitted to Oxford University and won a scholarship as his father wished. Hawking didn't study physics hard, and later he was admitted to the doctoral program of theoretical physics at Cambridge University. Why did you choose the major of theoretical physics? Hawking later said: "theoretical physics has two basic fields ... one is to study very large-scale, that is, cosmology;" The other is to study very small scales, that is, elementary particles. " In other words, theoretical physics links the "largest" universe with the "smallest" elementary particles. Finally, he decided to study cosmology because "there is a well-defined theory in cosmology, namely Einstein's general theory of relativity". General relativity is the theoretical basis of studying cosmology.
Repay the kindness of society
Hawking got a strange disease during his school days, which is a motor neuron disease. This disease made Hawking, who was already inflexible, more clumsy and his condition deteriorated rapidly. Hawking was so sad that he thought he would not live long. However, Hawking did not give up the work, study and life of normal people. He got married at this time. Five years later, he became the father of three children.
Hawking, who is sick, remains the same and even more diligent. He once dreamed that he was executed, from which he hoped that "if I was pardoned, I could do many valuable things". He believes that "I will sacrifice my life to save others" and do some good deeds to repay the kindness of society to him.
Hawking has made great achievements because of his hard work. He is famous in physics for his study of black holes. A black hole is a very small and massive celestial body, that is, it has a high density. This celestial body is theoretically inferred.
As early as 200 years ago, a French scientist put forward the problem of black holes. He believes that stars that meet certain conditions will absorb their own light under the action of gravity, making us look like a "dark mass". However, this sci-fi prediction has not been taken seriously. When Einstein established general relativity, a German scientist re-predicted the existence of black holes with the help of general relativity. He found that a black hole with a mass equal to the mass of the sun is only 2.95 kilometers in diameter; A black hole equivalent to the mass of the earth is only 0.9 cm in diameter. In the late 1930s, an American scientist studied the problem of black holes while studying the evolution of stars. He believes that when the star burns out, under the action of gravity, the star will collapse endlessly and eventually form a black hole.
The study of black holes has attracted worldwide attention.
In 1960s, a series of new discoveries in astronomy stimulated the research of astrophysics. Hawking came at the right time, and his research on black holes made him emerge. Hawking introduced heat into the study of black holes, which greatly deepened the understanding of black holes. At this time, Hawking thinks that there may be a kind of "miniature black hole". This kind of black hole is very small, and some will be as small as protons or neutrons. According to the theory of modern physics, when an object is so small, it should obey the laws of quantum mechanics. Hawking's further research shows that black holes can evaporate; The smaller the black hole, the faster it evaporates. 1 black hole 1 100 million tons (with similar proton size) 1 000 million years can be completely evaporated, and the energy released at last 0. 1 second is equivalent to110,000 megaton hydrogen bomb explosion. In other words, should we carefully observe astronomy and try to find this kind of "miniature black hole" in space and use it? !
Hawking made great contributions to the study of the Big Bang theory. He believes that the universe originated from a "singularity", the explosion at the "singularity" produced particles and energy, and the interaction between particles produced nebulae, which then evolved into our world today. Today's universe is still expanding, and the future universe may continue to expand, or it may shrink to the "singularity" that originally formed the universe when it reached its limit. It seems interesting, but this is the level of people's understanding of the universe today.
Hawking won the Einstein Prize of 1978 because of his achievements in astrophysical research. 1980 Became Lucas Chair Professor of Trinity College. Newton used to be the professor of this lecture. Now, Hawking is almost sixty years old. Although he is physically disabled, he often travels, speaks and writes. His A Brief History of Time has been published in tens of millions of copies and translated into more than 40 languages. Because of Hawking's legendary struggle experience, his A Brief History of Time has also been put on the screen. People saw pictures of black holes and elementary particles, and heard Hawking's tapping on the computer keyboard and computer synthesis. People are shocked by the abstinence of modern physics and the theory of the universe, sigh for the wisdom of human beings, and admire Hawking's great spirit of climbing the scientific peak even if he suffers great pain.
The story of an inventor
The story of movable type printing in Bi Sheng
In the early days, books were printed in full page. It is said that my brother Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, and the printing efficiency has been improved by dozens of times. The younger brothers learn from their older brothers.
While demonstrating and explaining, Bi Sheng introduced his invention to his younger brothers without reservation.
He first made delicate clay into small squares, engraved them with raised backhand characters one by one, hardened them with fire, and put them in the square according to vowels. Then spread a layer of glue (rosin, wax, paper scraps) on the iron plate, arrange the words one by one according to the paragraph, enclose them with an iron frame and heat them with fire. When the glue cools slightly, flatten the layout with a flat plate, and then print it after it is completely cooled. After printing, bake the printing plate with fire, melt the adhesive, remove the movable type one by one, and save it for typesetting next time.
The younger brothers can't help but exclaim. A younger brother said, "There are more than 5,000 volumes of the Tripitaka, and 6,543,800+3,000 pieces of wood have been carved, which can't fit in one room. How many teenagers have spent their heart and blood! If you use the senior method, you can finish it in a few months. Brother, how did you come up with such a clever way? "
"My two sons taught me!" Bi Sheng said.
"Your son? It won't be like this. They will only' play house'. "
"You're right! Just rely on this' house'. " Bi Sheng said with a smile, "Before Tomb-Sweeping Day last year, I took my wife and children back to my hometown to worship my ancestors. One day, two sons played house, making pots, bowls, tables, chairs, pigs and people out of mud and arranging them around at will. My eyes suddenly lit up, and I thought, why don't I play house, too: carve a single word seal with mud, so that you can arrange it at will and put it in the article? Ha ha! Isn't this what my son taught me? "
Other disciples also burst out laughing.
"But in this house, all the children have played and all the brothers have seen it. Why only you invented movable type printing? " Or the little teacher younger brother asked.
After a while, the master said, "Among your other disciples, Bi Sheng is the most thoughtful. He has been thinking about new ways to improve work efficiency! Rome was not built in a day. "
"Oh-!" The other disciples are enlightened.