![]() In theory, at least, the big bang could have happened. Justifying Sciama's faith in him, he produces a PhD of real brilliance and profound implications. He applies Penrose's theorems for collapsing stars to the universe itself. At last, Stephen enters a period of feverish academic work. With remarkable insight – a real Eureka moment – he asks himself: what would happen if you ran Penrose's maths backwards? Instead of something collapsing into nothingness, what if nothingness exploded into something? And what if you applied this not to a star but to the whole universe? Answer: the universe really could have originated in a big bang. With his mind fired up, Stephen begins to work away at the implications of Penrose's discovery and starts to home in on the idea of a singularity. He also commits to his relationship with her, asking her to marry him and in doing so exhibiting a defiant determination to survive. But he now has a focus for his energies and, with the support of Jane, enters a new phase. Meanwhile, Stephen's condition continues to decline, he writes and walks with difficulty and his speech is starting to slur. Sciama is sceptical but supportive – glad to see his student fired up and ready to work. He has always had a niggling scepticism about Steady State Theory, and now he can begin to see a way of explaining the revolutionary and highly controversial idea that the universe might have had a beginning. It is this which leads Stephen to his PhD subject. And at the heart of this black hole, Penrose shows, is something scientists call a singularity. The collapse of the dying star appears to continue indefinitely, until the star is infinitely dense, forming a black hole in space. His calculations suggest something extraordinary. When a star comes to the end of its life, it begins to collapse in on itself. Penrose's great passion is the fate of dying stars. Topology is an approach that uses concepts of shape rather than equations to think about the nature of the universe, and this proves to be the perfect tool for Stephen, who is starting to find it very difficult to write. At almost the same time Stephen is introduced to a new way of thinking about his subject by another physicist, Roger Penrose. The row causes a stir in the department but, more importantly, it seems to give Stephen the confidence to get started on his own work. He works through the calculations, identifies a mistake, and publicly confronts Hoyle after he has finished speaking. Stephen gets an early glimpse of a paper by Hoyle that is to be presented at a Royal Society lecture. The prevailing theory in cosmology at the time is Steady State, which argues that the universe had no beginning – it has always existed, and always will – and Steady State is dominated by Professor Fred Hoyle, a plain-speaking Yorkshireman, and one of the first science TV pundits. It is only Stephen's occasional meetings with Jane and her faith in him that seem to keep him afloat. He rejects the help of his supervisor Dennis Sciama and sinks into a depression. While his colleagues throw themselves into academic and college life, Stephen's life seems to have been put on hold. But he cannot hide from the reality of his condition through work because he can't find a subject for his PhD. Stephen returns to Cambridge where the new term has started without him. Stephen has motor neurone disease and doctors don't expect him to survive for more than two years. A stay in hospital results in a distressing diagnosis. ![]() There is a strong attraction between the two and Jane is intrigued by Stephen's talk of stars and the universe, but realises that there is something very wrong with Stephen when he suddenly finds that he is unable to stand up. Plot Īt Stephen Hawking's 21st birthday party he meets a new friend, Jane Wilde. ![]() Cumberbatch won the Golden Nymph for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Film or Miniseries.Ĭumberbatch's portrayal of Hawking was the first portrayal of the physicist on screen not by himself. It received two British Academy Television Awards nominations: Best Single Drama and Best Actor (Cumberbatch). The film received positive reviews, with critics particularly lauding Cumberbatch's performance as Hawking. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Hawking and premiered in the UK in April 2004. ![]() It chronicles Stephen Hawking's early years as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, following his search for the beginning of time, and his struggle against motor neuron disease. Hawking is a 2004 BBC television film directed by Philip Martin.
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