Stephen Hawking’s legacy lives on

On March 14, 2018, one of the world’s greatest minds passed away. Stephen Hawking died at his home in Cambridge, England, at the age of 76. He was well accomplished throughout his life due to his intelligent theories and solutions. He overcame many obstacles within his life; one of them being the fact that he had to live with a rare disease. Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a motor neuron illness that gradually paralysed Hawking over the decades. Hawking was only 21 years old when he was diagnosed. His motor skills decreased drastically over time, he began to stumble while simply walking, struggle while writing, and his speech began to slur later on. Even though this was an unfortunate event in his early years, these struggles pushed him to question more and to create more theories.

“Before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with life, there had not seemed to be anything worth doing.” Hawking said in a prior interview.

When he was officially diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease his medical team  did not expect him to see his twenty fifth birthday. Believing he might die earlier than expected he became extremely motivated to create and discover as much as he could.

Hawking helped push the human race to new areas that were never thought of and developed new theories on topics untouched by humanity. While most grieved his death, he made sure to acknowledge the younger generations:

“I am very aware of the preciousness of time, seize the moment, act now. I have spent my life travelling across the universe inside my mind, through theoretical physics I have sought to answer some of the great questions, but there are other challenges, other big questions which must be answered and these will also need a new generation who are interested, engaged and with an understanding of science,” Hawking said.

Throughout his life he admitted that he would not have gotten to where he was if he did not have the people who stuck by him and his convictions. Even though Hawking had accomplished many things, he knew that there would be many more questions and issues, whether national or global to solve. He encouraged the younger generations to think beyond what is there and see what it can be instead.

“I have been enormously privileged through my work to be able to contribute to our understanding of the universe. But it would be an empty universe indeed if it were not for the people I love and who love me. We are all time-travelers journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit,” Hawking said.

Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest minds, but he is not the last. He encouraged others to answer the questions he did not have time to solve and to question the unthinkable,  telling the younger generation:

“Be brave. Be determined. Overcome the odds. It can be done!”