Stephen Hawking grew up in a family of
well-educated people both of his parents
had college degrees so education was
very important but Stephen was never a
brilliant student he was not able to
read properly until he was 8 and despite
his average performance in school there
was something about him that teachers
recognized they knew there was a hidden
genius deep inside he was never very
interested in school he was more
fascinated in what was happening outside
and spent most of his time inventing new
things while in school Stephen was
nicknamed Einstein when Stephen was 17
he went to Oxford University to study
physics and chemistry and believe it or
not while at university Stephen was
incredibly lazy and had barely worked
for an hour a day he found his first
year very boring I'm not proud of this
I'm just describing my attitude at the
time which I shared with most fellow
students boredom and feeling nothing was
worth making an effort for after
graduating from Oxford University he
went to Cambridge to further his studies
in cosmology but soon Stephen started
having some strange physical symptoms
his speech started to be slurred he was
clumsy he would often trip and fall and
at first he wasn't paying much attention
but his condition was getting worse
rapidly in the meantime he met his
future wife Jane but after making a
series of tests it was diagnosed that he
was in the early stages of amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis the part of his brain
responsible for muscle control was
shutting down this disease gradually
paralyzes people in overtime they
struggled to walk talk swallow and even
breed without help and Stephen had only
two years left to live when the doctors
told him he didn't have much time left
at only 21 something shifted inside of
him faced with the possibility of dying
Stephen was motivated to make a
difference and not be lazy and waste any
more precious time so he dedicated his
entire life on his work he became even
more optimistic and married Jane and
they soon had three children when faced
with the possibility of an early death
it makes you realize that life is worth
living and there are lots of things you
want to do it is a waste of time to be
angry about my disability one has to get
on with life and I haven't done badly
people won't have time for you if you're
always angry or complaining he became
one of the most recognizable unique and
admired scientists of all time his
incredible work on black holes and the
origin of the universe changed the way
we think about science his most famous
book a brief history of time was sold
more than 10 million copies Stephen
Hawking is one of the most inspirational
people in the world he had an incredible
determination and burning desire to live
he didn't let his illness stand in the
way no matter how hard life was and no
matter how impossible or unachievable
something was giving up was never an
option despite all odds he proved his
doctors wrong miraculously living more
than 55 years after his diagnosis he
died at the age of 76 Stephen Hawking
might have been disabled in body but not
in his spirit and he has the best advice
for living a happy life remember to look
up at the stars and not down at your
feet never give up work work gives you
meaning and purpose and life is empty
without it and if you're lucky enough to
find love remember it is there and don't
throw it away try to make sense of what
you see and wonder about what makes the
universe exist be curious and however
difficult life may seem there is always
something you can do and succeed at it
that you don't just give up be brave be
determined overcome the odds it can be
done while there is life there is hope
so what's your story
you