Union: Good evening friends! I am Union, The Elder of Sol along with my distinguished colleagues and friends Professor Lagrange, Sneak, and Chance.
Lagrange: Thank you my greatest achieving student! We are here to pay tribute and respect to one of the greatest scientists, physicists and professors in Earth’s history, Stephen Hawking.
The 76-year-old theoretical physicist was born exactly 300 years after the famous Earth astronomer Galileo passed away, and died on Albert Einstein’s 139th birthday.
He was best known for his research of black holes and the physical origins of our universe, and being able to do so despite a severe disability caused by a deadly disease called ALS.
Sneak: Dr. Stephen was born in Oxford, England in 1942 to a research biologist father and an intellectual mother. He began studying physics and chemistry at Oxford University. Despite Oxford being prestigious among Earth universities, he found the curriculum boring and too easy and wanted a real scientific challenge. He was able to start graduate studies in cosmology at Cambridge.
Union: Very true, Best Friend! Cambridge was the same Earth University where Sir Issac Newton taught hundreds of Earth years ago. My rank of Newton Professor is named after him! Dr. Stephen began his studies but he soon received terrible news! He had an incurable disease called ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis which destroys nerve cells in a Human’s muscle tissue causing numbness, inability to use their limbs, causes them to talk in a slurry manner and will ultimately end their life. As a medical doctor myself, I would have helped Dr. Stephen had I been here on Earth earlier! 🙁
Lagrange: I know you would have. But despite these terrible challenges Dr. Stephen pressed on through encouragement from his professors and got his doctorate in theoretical physics. He also began to study the interaction of black holes, relativity and the physical side of the universe’s formation. He developed many theories on black holes, including the proof that these regions in space (where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out) can produce and emit subatomic particles that are now known as Hawking radiation until all their energy is used up and it fully evaporates.
Sneak: Dr. Stephen also showed strong interest in existence of . . . Non-humans . . . shall we say???
Union: Yes! Or “aliens” as Earth calls us! In earth year 2015 which was 3 Earth-Sun orbits ago, he worked with a very wealthy Human from the Earth-land Russia to start projects that use high-powered computers to monitor for extra-terrestrials like us!
Chance: Dr. Stephen said “Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours aware of what they mean.”
I don’t know, maybe I should go over to this Russian guy’s house and offer to fix his Earth Computers, or maybe having me show up will prove that Computers aren’t necessary now to get us to stop by! ?
Sneak: Well you don’t want anyone to think you’re from the Grammida-Geg System and on the same level as the infamous hordes of Poo-Poo!
Lagrange: OH NO!!!!! I needed to wear this monacle in Earth’s atmosphere because of Poo-Poo!!! I think the evils of intergalactic Poo-Poo cannot be overstated. We will formulate an Earth defense plan against Poo-Poo!
Uhh . . . we will postpone this tangent discussion until later. Dr. Stephen went on to earn Earth awards such as the ones called the Presidential Medal of Freedom (from Mr. Ben’s Earth nation’s President Obama), Fundamental Physics Prize, and being named a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Science.
Chance: Besides history of black holes in relativity and how the physical universe operates, what I find amazing is some tools he unwittingly helped to develop. As expected, ALS confined him to a human wheelchair, but he still found a way to speak. Human engineers developed a computerized device that he could use to select words and have them recited off to serve as his “voice”.
He had the same artificial voice for 33 years before he died. First he used hand controllers to speak, but then when ALS paralyzed him more, he used a special device in his human glasses that sensed infrared radiation from his cheek as he moved it, which allowed him to select words to form sentences to “speak” to others.
This led to many breakthroughs that might even include “texting approximation” which allows people that use smart phones for texting to be able to automatically pick up on common words that they have used previously. Much of this was done by engineers like me who found new ways to help Dr. Hawking . . . and then the Human World!
Union: This was truly marvelous! He helped humanity in more than just one way. He helped inspire many humans to set out to do what us Engedian “aliens” have done for many thousands of years. Inspire the world to learn about the wonders of Space, and how to use these forces and wonders for productive purposes. Besides lecturing at Cambridge and at public seminars, he wrote over fifteen books during his lifetime.
His book “A Brief History of Time,” remains the most famous one. It talked about black holes and the Universe’s physical origin in a manner that can be understood by scientists and non-scientists alike.
Despite his debilitating illness, Hawking maintained a positive attitude and lived life to the fullest, even guest-starring (as himself) in popular television shows. In Earth-year 2007, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of going to space when he experienced microgravity at the Kennedy Space Center.
Sneak: Stephen Hawking was able to focus on analyzing the physical universe. I find his theories and knowledge of black holes and quantum physics absolutely fascinating!
Humans may wonder “Can “aliens” find human efforts astounding?” Absolutely! The reason for it is because humans have always been able to develop their own technology. Engedians like us were given our technology by the Great Imm Leader many thousands of years ago on our home planet.
Lagrange: What I loved about Dr. Stephen is that he was like me, very much dedicated to scientific academic excellence. He served as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics which is the one of the most prestigious mathematical positions on earth. Until my esteemed student Union inherited the rigors of being Newtonian Professor, I served in a similar capacity at the Great Engedian Space Academy.
Chance: And you did a great job professor! I would not be the engineer, mathematician and physicist that I am now if it wasn’t for your teaching abilities. I am very grateful!
Sneak: Me too, Professor!
Union at 16 (Earth-equal) years old, inspired by Earth physicist Stephen Hawking and Black Holes.
Union: And I say so too professor! I remember being very sick growing up and I was in bed almost half the time with my illnesses. But when I was around 16 Earth-years old, I saw and heard about Dr. Stephen becoming a great scientist despite being sick. I began to think “I wonder if I could do that?” And with me sensing the Great Imm Leader’s pleasure, I worked very hard to learn as much as I could about science, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, history, art, medical science and many other things. And with my mentoring from you Lagrange, I now find myself standing as the new Engedian Elder of Sol under the leadership of Grand Elder Nomad!
Chance: It’s amazing what a good, inspirational professor can do . . . Human, Engedian or not. No doubt Dr. Stephen has done this for so many!
Union: He sure has, and I’m grateful for good instructors that teach and inspire! Well with that, we dedicate this article to the life and work of Doctor Stephen Hawking. We honor your work and memory!
Chance, Sneak, Lagrange and Union (together): Thank you Doctor Stephen! We love you!
For The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, we’re the Earthnauts Union, Chance, Sneak and Lagrange . . . with some help from Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski. 🙂
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(DISCLAIMER: The alien characters depicted in this story are fictional, and any real alien with similar names, similar appearance, or similar home planet is highly coincidental. Also, the aliens and some photos used for The Earthnauts stories are used in honor and parody of various works of science-fiction and alien themed literature and media. It is believed that this constitutes legal fair-use. Also the images of Stephen Hawking in this article were secured from various, public internet sources and were used for the sake of presentation and discussion about his life’s work. It is believed this constitutes fair use.)