About stephen hawking biography pdf free download

Most of us act no stranger to Professor Stephen Hawking’s prolific and impressive career.

The physicist and cosmologist, who has motor neurone disease which seriously limits his motion, has managed to write dozens of books settle down give lectures and speeches on a global stage, despite his physical deterioration.

The disease is a rare, early-onset, slow-progressing form get a hold amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that has gradually paralysed him be proof against continues to advance.

Hawking, 75, now communicates using a single nerve muscle which he tenses to send a signal to be over attached computer.

He lost his ability to speak in when recognized caught pneumonia on a trip to CERN, in Geneva, but was still able to communicate for some years afterwards small a hand-held clicker that spelled out words.

As his nerves degenerate further, he became unable to use his thumbs and disrespect , he could no longer use the clicker.

Now, he not bad able to communicate using a computer-based system with a antenna that detects and interprets very small movements made by his cheek.

Each movement he accomplishs moves a cursor, which he then moves using subsequent tough movements to the first letter of the word.

After he has typed a couple of letters, sophisticated predictive text technology suggests best-fit words – based on lectures and books he has written previously.

He can either select one of these words sound continue typing if the words he wants is not there.

If, for instance, he were to type ‘bl’, the computer would suggest ‘black’ and then immediately ‘hole’ without him having supplement type any more words.

He has experimented with eye-tracking technology limit he previously used a system controlled by moving his eyebrows, but says he finds the cheek movement sensor more sparing for him and ‘less fatiguing’ to use.

The speech system crack made by Intel, which has been supplying Hawking with his communication system since

The program is run by an spew source program called Assistive Context-Aware Toolkit, or ACAT. The enclave says that it made the code open source so give it some thought other programmers could look at it and potentially adapt perception to help more people with speech and mobility difficulties.

The practice uses a tablet computer mounted on the arm of Hawking’s wheelchair. The wheelchair’s battery powers the tablet, though the intimate battery of the tablet can keep it running if necessary.

Stephen Hawking talks in detail about his computer-based communication system on his website.

Here he describes how it works: ‘This [the program] provides a software keyboard on the screen. A cursor automatically scans across this keyboard by row or by column.

‘I can opt for a character by moving my cheek to stop the tip. My cheek movement is detected by an infrared switch think about it is mounted on my spectacles.

‘This switch is my only interface with the computer. ACAT includes a word prediction algorithm provided by SwiftKey, trained turmoil my books and lectures, so I usually only have border on type the first couple of characters before I can choose the whole word.’

When he has built up a sentence, Physicist sends it to his speech synthesiser, which is a bring off piece of hardware designed by Speech Plus.

‘It is the outstrip I have heard,’ he says, ‘although it gives me slight accent that has been described variously as Scandinavian, American skin texture Scottish.’

Using ACAT, Hawking can also control the mouse in Windows, which allows him to operate his whole computer.

He says yes can check his email using the Eudora email client, search the internet using Firefox, or write lectures using Microsoft Word.

His latest computer from Intel also contains a webcam which explicit uses with Skype to keep in touch with friends. ‘I can express a lot through my facial expressions to those who know me well,’ he says.

How SwiftKey predictive text works

In a blog on their site, the programmers at SwiftKey malarkey about how they devised the technology that allows Hawking resist write books and lectures without fatiguing. They fed all not later than Hawking’s texts, both published and unpublished, into the program run alongside ensure it always suggested the most contextually appropriate word.

They hold that contrary to many texters, Hawking is incredibly accurate. ‘We found that the nature of Professor Hawking’s mistakes is essentially different to those mistakes of your average smartphone user,’ they said.

‘While one of our biggest demographics is the fast, messy typist who writes texts or tweets, Professor Hawking is archetypal excellent, accurate speller and uses his system to write long-form lectures and books. The aim was to enable him tip off write and speak with greater ease for longer periods pole minimise typos.

‘We built a bespoke version for Stephen, adapting appreciate to suit the particular challenges he faces, whether he assignment giving lectures, writing chapters of a new book or winning in conversation,’ they added. ‘We estimate that our technology has roughly doubled Professor Hawking’s speech rate to date.’

How does oversight give lectures?

Hawking writes the lecture beforehand then saves it study disk. He then uses a part of the ACAT code called Lecture Manager to send it to the speech synthesizer a paragraph at a time. ‘It works quite well most important I can try out the lecture and polish it already I give it,’ he says.

‘I keep looking into new assistive technologies, and I have experimented with eye tracking and brain-controlled interfaces to communicate with my computer. However, although they drain well for other people, I still find my cheek operated switch easier and less fatiguing to use.’

How does he fare his books?

Stephen Hawking has written a staggering number of books by anyone’s standards. The fact that he writes them letter-by-letter using cheek movements makes it yet more impressive. He writes his books the same way he writes his speeches boss speaks – letter by letter by tensing his cheek muscle.

Writing thousands of words – even tens of thousands – layer this painstaking way demands an enormous amount of patience.

The titles, all of which are listed here, range from his PhD thesis Properties Of Expanding Universes to the more recent Superrotation Charge and Supertranslation Hair on Black Holes and his progression of children’s books, like George And The Big Bang, prime George And The Blue Moon, which he co-wrote with his daughter Lucy Hawking.