lesson9 Against all odds 现代大学英语精读第一册课件.ppt

Lesson 9 Against all odds Introduction to the Text This text is adapted from the biography of Stephen Hawking—Stephen Hawking: A life in Science, 2nd edition, written by Michael White and John Gribbin, published in 1998. Stephen Hawking --“the scientist in the wheelchair” Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. . Professor Stephen W Hawking, Even as he sits helpless in his wheelchair, his mind seems to soar ever more brilliantly across the vastness of space and time to unlock the secrets of the universe. - Time Brilliant book! - Nick Donaldson, Bit Wrangler Extraordinaire!. At eleven Stephen went to St Albans School, and then on to University College, Oxford, his fathers old college. Stephen wanted to do Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. After three years and not very much work he was awarded a first class honors degree in Natural Science. Hawking Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there being no-one working in that area in Oxford at the time. After gaining his Ph.D. he became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. His main publications *A Brief History of Time *Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey 300 Years of Gravity Hawking Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes and is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. “As I read his ideas about space, time, black holes, and the Universe in which we live, I was amazed at how easily he explained the exciting but often complicated subjects explored in the book. I loved how he brought such inspiring theories to the public with a unique wit a