When I read about Stephen Hawking being hospitalized, I was suprised by how worried I felt for him. According to the latest news, he should make a full recovery, but I decided to write an ode rather than an obituary.
Stephen Hawking has done what not many scientists or academics manage: do serious research and make the results available for all - in a format everyone can understand. I bought A Brief History of Time when I was fourteen, and to this day it's the only book dealing with science I've ever bought. If only briefly, I was truly fascinated by astronomy (physics - not so much) and wrote a paper as well as gave a presentation on black holes at school. I still hold a fondness for that book filled with beautiful pictures and event horizons, and the horror of being stretched into spaghetti if crossing said horizon.
Hawking has a website, but it's been temporarily shut down due to heavy traffic. (I'm not the only one worried, it would seem.) If you want to look at pretty pictures and read up on the universe, try http://www.nasa.gov/ instead.
Did you know the black hole in our galaxy (shown in the picture above) is so mellow because it had a massive outburst 300 years ago? http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/blackhole_slumber_prt.htm
Did you know NASA has a blog documenting the tests and development it's doing on new shuttles and equipment? http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Constellation/
Did you know the universe is beautiful? http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
For awesome info on why and how they colour the pictures: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/
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