[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.While Jane received much-needed help, the student gained a closerinsight into Hawking s mind, and some of his genius was bound torub off.At least that was the theory.There was, of course, anotherside to this: as Hawking himself has said, It was hard for a studentto be in awe of his professor after he has helped him to the bath-room! 2 Bernard Carr, who was one of Hawking s earliest studentsto have this honor and is now at the University of London, describeshis time there as like participating in history. 3 The duties of thelodgers were manifold.To earn their keep they were expected toplay as required the roles of nanny, secretary, and handyman, help-ing with travel arrangements, babysitting the children, drawing uplecture schedules, and managing general household repairs.Another early lodger was the American physicist Don Page.Afterfinishing his Ph.D.at Caltech, Page had written to Hawking askingfor a job reference.In the months that followed, several researchgroups wrote to Hawking about Page, and each time he gave afavorable reference.Then, some time later, he wrote to the youngphysicist, I ve been writing letters of reference for you, but I mayhave a position myself. 4 Hawking managed to help Page secure 158 STEPHEN HAWKINGfunding for a year and then organized a grant for a further twoyears of research.Page joined the Hawking household in 1976 andreestablished the close friendship they had enjoyed in California, afriendship that has survived to the present day.One of Page s duties was to commute with Hawking each daybetween West Road and the DAMTP.This was seen as a good timeto talk, to summarize the previous day s efforts, and to consider thetasks for the day ahead.It was a very productive time, even thoughPage found Hawking s way of working through complex mathe-matics in his head quite hard to get used to.Talking about thetwice-daily journey, he has said:I found it very good training.During the three years I was a post-doc, I lived with the Hawking family, and a lot of times I d walkback and forth with him.Of course I couldn t write while I waswalking, and sometimes he would ask me something, and I d try tothink it out in my head.When you have to do it in your head, youhave to get really to the heart of the matter and try to eliminate theinessential details.5Around the time of the move to West Road, Hawking found thathe could no longer use the three-wheel invalid car he had had onloan from the National Health Service since 1969 and in which hetraveled to the Institute of Astronomy three times a week.At firstthis appeared to be another blow, but, as has often been the casewith the Hawkings, they were able to turn the situation to theiradvantage.Jane says:It was a blessing in disguise, because the roads are so dangerous out to theInstitute anyhow.It didn t matter because we could afford to buy the electricwheelchair.which he runs along in, and is really much more convenient forhim because he doesn t have to be sure of having people to help him in and outas he does with the car.So he s completely independent in the electric wheelchair.There s always some compensating factor that makes deterioration acceptable.6 159The Foothills of FameHawking became a real demon of a wheelchair driver.One jour-nalist described his skills thus:He hurtles out into the street.At full throttle the chair is capable of a decent trot-ting pace, and Hawking likes to use full throttle.He also knows no fear.He sim-ply shoots out into the middle of the road on the assumption that any passing carswill stop.His assistants rush nervously out ahead of him to try to minimize thedanger.7Jane s relief that he no longer had to use the three-wheeler on theroads of Cambridge could so easily have been misplaced.Indeed, inearly 1991, Hawking was involved in an accident in his wheelchair.He is a very familiar figure in the city, and passersby stop and talkto him.However, on this occasion a driver failed to see the chairwith the slumped figure of the world s most famous living scientistat the controls.The car hit the chair, and Hawking s frail body wasthrown on to the road.It could have been a disastrous accident, butfortunately he suffered only minor injuries, cutting his face anddamaging a shoulder.It is typical of the man that, against medicaladvice, he was back in his office within forty-eight hours anddemanding that his papers and books be propped up in front of himso that he could work.On other occasions, his boy-racer antics have caused greatembarrassment.In June 1989, Hawking was to deliver the presti-gious Halley Lecture at Oxford University.A young, newlyappointed physics professor, George Efstathiou, was given the unen-viable task of looking after the eminent visiting lecturer before, dur-ing, and after the talk.Hawking arrived at the Department ofZoology, where the university s largest lecture theater is housed, andwas escorted into reception.It was Efstathiou s job to get hisfamous charge to the theater, one floor below, where the vice- 160 STEPHEN HAWKINGchancellor of the university and six hundred students, city digni-taries, and interested laypeople were waiting in expectation.A two-man lift at the end of the reception area would take themto the floor below and lead, via a short corridor, to the lecturetheater.The lift doors were open.Before Efstathiou had a chance ofhelping Hawking into the lift, Hawking set the chair to full throttleand headed for the open doors a dozen yards ahead of him.Efstathiou remembers clearly that he estimated, even from thatdistance, that Hawking could not make it into the narrow liftentrance, and he could do nothing but watch in horror as his guestspeaker hurtled toward the aperture.At last propelled into action,Efstathiou gave chase but could not catch up.To his amazementHawking made it through the lift doors.But that was only the beginning of Efstathiou s troubles [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.While Jane received much-needed help, the student gained a closerinsight into Hawking s mind, and some of his genius was bound torub off.At least that was the theory.There was, of course, anotherside to this: as Hawking himself has said, It was hard for a studentto be in awe of his professor after he has helped him to the bath-room! 2 Bernard Carr, who was one of Hawking s earliest studentsto have this honor and is now at the University of London, describeshis time there as like participating in history. 3 The duties of thelodgers were manifold.To earn their keep they were expected toplay as required the roles of nanny, secretary, and handyman, help-ing with travel arrangements, babysitting the children, drawing uplecture schedules, and managing general household repairs.Another early lodger was the American physicist Don Page.Afterfinishing his Ph.D.at Caltech, Page had written to Hawking askingfor a job reference.In the months that followed, several researchgroups wrote to Hawking about Page, and each time he gave afavorable reference.Then, some time later, he wrote to the youngphysicist, I ve been writing letters of reference for you, but I mayhave a position myself. 4 Hawking managed to help Page secure 158 STEPHEN HAWKINGfunding for a year and then organized a grant for a further twoyears of research.Page joined the Hawking household in 1976 andreestablished the close friendship they had enjoyed in California, afriendship that has survived to the present day.One of Page s duties was to commute with Hawking each daybetween West Road and the DAMTP.This was seen as a good timeto talk, to summarize the previous day s efforts, and to consider thetasks for the day ahead.It was a very productive time, even thoughPage found Hawking s way of working through complex mathe-matics in his head quite hard to get used to.Talking about thetwice-daily journey, he has said:I found it very good training.During the three years I was a post-doc, I lived with the Hawking family, and a lot of times I d walkback and forth with him.Of course I couldn t write while I waswalking, and sometimes he would ask me something, and I d try tothink it out in my head.When you have to do it in your head, youhave to get really to the heart of the matter and try to eliminate theinessential details.5Around the time of the move to West Road, Hawking found thathe could no longer use the three-wheel invalid car he had had onloan from the National Health Service since 1969 and in which hetraveled to the Institute of Astronomy three times a week.At firstthis appeared to be another blow, but, as has often been the casewith the Hawkings, they were able to turn the situation to theiradvantage.Jane says:It was a blessing in disguise, because the roads are so dangerous out to theInstitute anyhow.It didn t matter because we could afford to buy the electricwheelchair.which he runs along in, and is really much more convenient forhim because he doesn t have to be sure of having people to help him in and outas he does with the car.So he s completely independent in the electric wheelchair.There s always some compensating factor that makes deterioration acceptable.6 159The Foothills of FameHawking became a real demon of a wheelchair driver.One jour-nalist described his skills thus:He hurtles out into the street.At full throttle the chair is capable of a decent trot-ting pace, and Hawking likes to use full throttle.He also knows no fear.He sim-ply shoots out into the middle of the road on the assumption that any passing carswill stop.His assistants rush nervously out ahead of him to try to minimize thedanger.7Jane s relief that he no longer had to use the three-wheeler on theroads of Cambridge could so easily have been misplaced.Indeed, inearly 1991, Hawking was involved in an accident in his wheelchair.He is a very familiar figure in the city, and passersby stop and talkto him.However, on this occasion a driver failed to see the chairwith the slumped figure of the world s most famous living scientistat the controls.The car hit the chair, and Hawking s frail body wasthrown on to the road.It could have been a disastrous accident, butfortunately he suffered only minor injuries, cutting his face anddamaging a shoulder.It is typical of the man that, against medicaladvice, he was back in his office within forty-eight hours anddemanding that his papers and books be propped up in front of himso that he could work.On other occasions, his boy-racer antics have caused greatembarrassment.In June 1989, Hawking was to deliver the presti-gious Halley Lecture at Oxford University.A young, newlyappointed physics professor, George Efstathiou, was given the unen-viable task of looking after the eminent visiting lecturer before, dur-ing, and after the talk.Hawking arrived at the Department ofZoology, where the university s largest lecture theater is housed, andwas escorted into reception.It was Efstathiou s job to get hisfamous charge to the theater, one floor below, where the vice- 160 STEPHEN HAWKINGchancellor of the university and six hundred students, city digni-taries, and interested laypeople were waiting in expectation.A two-man lift at the end of the reception area would take themto the floor below and lead, via a short corridor, to the lecturetheater.The lift doors were open.Before Efstathiou had a chance ofhelping Hawking into the lift, Hawking set the chair to full throttleand headed for the open doors a dozen yards ahead of him.Efstathiou remembers clearly that he estimated, even from thatdistance, that Hawking could not make it into the narrow liftentrance, and he could do nothing but watch in horror as his guestspeaker hurtled toward the aperture.At last propelled into action,Efstathiou gave chase but could not catch up.To his amazementHawking made it through the lift doors.But that was only the beginning of Efstathiou s troubles [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]