There is no doubt Stephen Hawking will be remembered as one of the most influential physicists of his time.
For Svetlana Barkanova, a physics professor at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University in Corner Brook, the legacy of the renowned British scientist, who died Wednesday at the age of 76, will be deeper than what he did for the discipline.
Scientifically, Hawking will go down in history as the person who brought together the studies of cosmology, general relativity and quantum theory. His accomplishments in physics have been considered some of the greatest since Albert Einstein.
His initial research work on black holes, noted Barkanova, eventually led Hawking to the idea that the Big Bang Theory — that the entire universe started from a single event and then expanded — was rather like the collapse of a black hole in reverse. She said two physics students graduating from Grenfell plan to pursue graduate studies in general relativity and quantum gravity specifically because of Hawking’s influence.
But what made Hawking such an amazing role model for Barkanova was his resilience to an incapacitating disease.
As a young man, Hawking was diagnosed with a rare motor neuron disease that led to almost compete paralysis. Despite being given just a few years to live at the time, he defied those odds for decades, with his sharp intellect and humour ever ready to pierce through his feeble body’s limitations.
“Physics is a fascinating and highly rewarding field, but it does get tough sometimes,” said Barkanova. “A physicist is not just a person who has a talent in math and a curiosity about our universe — it is a person who does not give up. Stephen Hawking is a great role model in not giving up, no matter what.”
Hawking’s ability to overcome his physical challenges may have been part of his allure publicly, but Barkanova said he was also able to explain complex concepts such as black holes in plain language, and that made him a great public intellectual and tireless promoter of science.
Public speaking skills are something Barkanova tries to instill in her students. They recently conducted debates on nuclear energy, and the students did a great job explaining their ideas, she said.
“Hopefully, the next generation of media-savvy physicists graduating from Grenfell will do a better job explaining and promoting physics to the general audiences than we normally do now,” she said.
Hawking’s scientific work wasn’t finished either. Barkanova hopes the next crop of young physicists working on cosmology, quantum gravity and particle physics can advance theories about the many remaining unanswered questions of the universe, such as the origin of dark matter.
“We lost a great physicist yesterday, but hopefully there will be many others to continue his work,” said Barkanova.
