hawking

¹

[ haw-king ]

noun

1. the sport of hunting with hawks or other birds of prey; falconry.

Hawking

²

[ haw-king ]

noun

1. Stephen William, 1942–2018, English mathematician and theoretical physicist.

Hawking

¹

/ ˈhɔːkɪŋ /

noun

1. HawkingStephen William1942MBritishSCIENCE: physicistWRITING: science writer Stephen William. Born 1942, British physicist. Stricken with a progressive nervous disease since the 1960s, he has nevertheless been a leader in cosmological theory. His publications intended for a wide audience include A Brief History of Time (1987) and The Grand Design (2010)

ˈhawking

²

/ ˈhɔːkɪŋ /

noun

1. another name for falconry

Hawking

/ hô′kĭng /

1. British physicist noted for his study of black holes and the origin of the universe, especially the big bang theory. His work has provided much of the mathematical basis for scientific explanations of the physical properties of black holes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hawking¹

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; hawk ¹, -ing ¹

Biography

The world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking needs little introduction to those familiar with the bespectacled man who uses a wheelchair and lectures around the world with the aid of a computerized speech synthesizer. The condition that has left him all but totally paralyzed, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is usually fatal within a few years; but Hawking has beaten the odds by living with the disease for all his adult life, since its onset when he was a 20-year-old college student. Hawking's story is a testament to a determined person's ability to overcome unexpected adversity—his career in fact did not take off until after the disease had been diagnosed. Hawking partly credits the disease for giving him a sense of purpose and the ability to enjoy life. His academic position at Oxford is a chaired professorship in mathematics that was also held by Isaac Newton, in 1669. He originally set out to study mathematics, but it is for his discoveries in physics that he is best known. With his collaborator Roger Penrose, he theorized that Einstein's Theory of General Relativity predicts that space and time have a definite origin and conclusion, providing mathematical support for the Big Bang theory. This led to further attempts to unify General Relativity with quantum theory, one consequence of which is the intriguing view that black holes are not entirely “black,” as originally thought, but emit radiation and should eventually evaporate and disappear.

Example Sentences

Fifty years ago, physicist Stephen Hawking offered one idea for what dark matter might be: a population of black holes, which might have formed very soon after the Big Bang.

From Science Daily

Humanity itself could, at some future point, be replaced by superintelligent machines, according to some globally renowned thinkers and philosophers such as the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari and Stephen Hawking.

From New York Times

Fifty years ago, famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote down an equation that predicts that a black hole has entropy, an attribute typically associated with the disordered jumbling of atoms and molecules in material.

From Science Magazine

Thirty-six years ago, Gary Brinson cracked open Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time,” a bestseller in which the renowned physicist sought to explain the mysteries of the universe in layman’s terms.

From Los Angeles Times

In a bit of math symmetry, famed physicist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018, at age 76.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• angling
• fishery
• fishing
• shooting