Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde: love that helps you live

Golden Boy

From early childhood, Steve stood out among his peers, his talent was evident in everything, and already in elementary school he knew that he would become a great scientist. The Hawking children studied at a very good school, where it was considered normal for them to be driven to lessons in a Rolls-Royce. And they were brought in by taxi, they were shy and lay down on the floor of the car.

For Stephen, abilities were also a ticket to another, prosperous life on all sides. They envied Hawking; he seemed lucky: everything was given to him on his own; at the age of 20, he was already a prominent researcher and a brilliant theorist. Around this time, he met the girl who would become his destiny, Jane Wilde. They met casually, at a party, and felt that same spark. Jane later remembered seeing Steve at school:

“I remember that in the next class, a boy with unruly golden-brown hair was sitting against the wall for some time...”

Stephen was a man of science, Jane studied foreign literature. What he, a physicist, called a problem, for her, a humanitarian, was a drama, and vice versa. But they, so different, successfully complemented each other. Jane could sometimes tell Steve a story, and he would tell her about science in such a way that her eyes lit up.

At this time in his life, Hawking really didn’t know what else he could dream about - everything was going so well.

And then the doctors gave him a terrible diagnosis: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. With great sympathy, the doctor told the guy that he would face rapidly progressing paralysis, and death in two years.

Awards[ | ]

He was a member of the Royal Society of London (1974, became one of the youngest members of the society), the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1986), the US National Academy of Sciences (1992)[20][66][67][68], honorary professor at the Canary Institute of Astrophysics ( 2016)[69][70].

Real love

How fate laughed at him! But it seemed to him that he would reveal the main secrets of the universe, that he and Jane would have a family and children, and in general, the future seemed like a huge basket of gifts. The blow was too strong, Stephen stopped communicating with people, disappeared from the radar of his friends, and hid from Jane. She couldn’t understand anything - just yesterday they were walking and talking about astrophysics, and Hawking seemed so in love, and suddenly he disappeared. Then Stephen's friends explained to her what was going on. Jane found her boyfriend and explained to him that she would not let him go anywhere else. Steve said that he had little left, that all this was pointless, and Jane stubbornly repeated:

“We will fight and live together as long as we have allotted!”

Of course, his strength has increased. When your beloved is nearby, it is easier to go through even the most difficult path.

Jane Wilde and Stephen Hawking got married. It was a very happy family. They enjoyed every day together, traveled, read, Stephen continued to study science and made excellent money. Soon children appeared in the family, “a boy and a boy.” Jane loved her husband with all her heart, and it seemed that she even enjoyed caring for him and helping him. The doctors were wrong in their predictions: the paralysis progressed slowly. And with a nurse like Jane, Stephen was not afraid to look into the future.

Views[ | ]

Stephen Hawking was an atheist[37][38][39]. He held left-wing views and was a Labor supporter in British politics.

In March 1968, he participated in a march against the Vietnam War.[40] He called the 2003 Iraq War a “war crime” and participated in anti-war events, and also boycotted a conference in Israel due to disagreement with the policy of the authorities of this country towards the Palestinians[41]. He supported nuclear disarmament, the fight against climate change and universal health care.

In 1992 he signed the “Warning to Humanity”[42]. Signatory to the Open Letter on Earth's Climate Change from Concerned Members of the US National Academy of Sciences (2016)[43][44].

In the last years of his life he participated in campaigns in support of the National Health Service in Great Britain, against cuts in its funding and creeping privatization; was one of the applicants in the lawsuit against the Minister of Health Jeremy Hunt, who initiated the further commercialization of medicine[45].

Same with Jonathan

But all people are only people. As the years passed, Jane noticed how her strength was leaving her. Next to her was one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, but this brilliant scientist was completely helpless without her. Jane tried not to let her husband see that she was completely discouraged, but her mother saw everything and advised her to distract herself by singing in the church choir.

This really was a good idea. Jane became cheerful; life no longer seemed like an unbearable burden. The director of the choir, Jonathan Jones, supported her all the time, said the necessary praise, and just compliments - she was happy. A little time passed and Jonathan confessed his feelings to Jane. She herself was in love by this time, but Stephen! Jane asked the musician never to talk about love again - they could only be friends.

And Jonathan became her friend, and Stephen's friend too. He often helped Jane with housework and replaced her when it was necessary to take care of Hawking. Jane and Jonathan became so close that when the Hawkings' daughter was born, everyone didn't know what to think.

“I think her father is Jonathan,” Jane’s mother said cautiously. - Only Steve can be the father of my children! - Jane snapped.

Jonathan overheard this conversation. It was already difficult for him to be close to his beloved and not hope for anything, but here it’s “only Steve.” He decided that enough was enough. The Hawkings will never see him again. But Jane was so upset about the loss of Jonathan that Hawking himself went to him and asked him to return.

Did Hawking act nobly?

Yes

0%

No

0%

Filmography[ | ]

• A Brief History of Time (1991), directed by Errol Morris
• "Stephen Hawking's Universe" (1997)
• "Hawking" (2004), BBC
• "Horizon: The Hawking Paradox" (2005)
• “Masters of Science Fiction” (2007) - produced
• "Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything" (2007)
• "Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe" (2008)
• "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" (2010)
• "Brave New World with Stephen Hawking" (2011)
• "Stephen Hawking's Grand Design" (2012)
• "Stephen Hawking. My Story of Time" (2013), BBC
• “The Theory of Everything” (“Stephen Hawking’s Universe”, 2014), directed by James Marsh.
• “Real Genius with Stephen Hawking” (eng. Genius By Stephen Hawking, 2016), National Geographic Channel
• "The Universe of Stephen Hawking" (eng. Universe of Stephen Hawking, 2018)
• The Big Bang Theory - cameo (S5E21, S8E14, S10E09)
• "Stephen Hawking's Last Secret" (2018)

Divorce

Jonathan returned, and Steve soon fell ill with pneumonia. Hawking was so ill that doctors suggested Jane turn off the machine that was keeping him alive. She flatly refused and insisted on surgery. The scientist's life was saved, but he could no longer speak. Friends built a speech synthesizer for him, and Hawking controlled the device first with his hand and then with his neck muscle.

After her husband’s surgery, Jane could no longer care for him on her own; she couldn’t cope. They hired a nurse, and everything happened very quickly: Hawking fell in love with her, and he and Jane divorced peacefully.

Jane married Jonathan, Stephen married his nurse.

His second marriage was unsuccessful, his wife treated him horribly and they divorced in 2006. And they remained the best friends with Jane until the scientist’s death.

Bibliography[ | ]

(in Russian)

• Hawking S., Ellis J.
  Large-scale structure of space-time /
  Transl.
  from English E. A. Tagirova. Ed. Ya. A. Smorodinsky. - M.: Mir, 1977. - 432 p.
• Black holes (collection of articles). / Per.
  from English I. V. Volovich, [other]. - (News of fundamental physics, issue 9) - M.: Mir, 1978. - 323 p.
• General theory of relativity (collection of articles). / Ed.
  S. Hawking, V. Israel. Per. from English edited by Ya. A. Smorodinsky and V. B. Braginsky - M.: Mir, 1983. - 455 p.
• Geometric ideas in physics (collection of articles). / Per.
  from English Ed. Yu. I. Manina. - M.: Mir, 1983. - 240 p.
• Hawking S.
  The Edge of the Universe // Past and Future of the Universe / comp. N. D. Morozova. - M.: Nauka, 1986. - P. 92-103.
• Hawking S.
  A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes /
  Trans.
  from English N. Ya. Smorodinskaya. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2001. - 268 p. — ISBN 5-94278-564-3.
• Hawking S.
  Black holes and young universes /
  Trans.
  from English M. V. Kononova. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2001. - 189 p. — ISBN 5-94278-612-7.
• Hawking S. and Mlodinov L.
  The shortest history of time /
  Transl.
  from English Bakidzhan Oralbekov. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2006. - 184 p. — ISBN 5-367-00164-5.
• Hawking S.
  The world in a nutshell /
  Transl.
  from English A. G. Sergeeva. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2007. - 218 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-00614-8.
• S. Hawking and R. Penrose
  .
  The nature of space and time / Transl.
  from English A. Berkova, V. Lebedeva. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2007. - 171 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-00590-5.
• Hawking S., Hawking L., Galfar K.
  George and the secrets of the Universe /
  Transl.
  from English E. Kanishcheva - Children's publishing house "Pink Giraffe", 2008. - 331 p. — ISBN 978-5-903497-13-3.
• Hawking S., Hawking L.
  George and the Treasures of the Universe /
  Trans.
  from English E. Kanishcheva - Children's publishing house "Pink Giraffe", 2010. - 352 p. — ISBN 978-5-903497-22-5.
• Hawking S.
  Theory of everything /
  Transl.
  from English N. N. Ivanova. Ed. G. A. Burby. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2009. - 160 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-00991-0.
• Hawking S., Penrose R., Shimoni A., Cartwright N.
  Big, small and the human mind - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2008. - 192 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-00779-4
• Hawking S.
  The future of space - time - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2009. - 256 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-01085-5
• Hawking S., Mlodinov L.
  Higher plan /
  Transl.
  from English M. V. Kononova. Ed. G. A. Burby. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2012. - 208 p. — ISBN 978-5-367-02218-6
• Hawking S., Hawking L.
  George and the Big Bang /
  Trans.
  from English E. Kanishcheva - Children's publishing house "Pink Giraffe", 2012. - 328 p. — ISBN 978-5-4370-0021-2
• "Short Answers to Big Questions", 2020.[71][72]
• Hawking S., Hawking L.
  George and, which cannot be hacked /
  Trans.
  from English E. Kanishcheva - Children's publishing house "Pink Giraffe", 2020. - 376 p. — ISBN 978-5-4370-0107-3.
• Hawking S., Hawking L.
  George and the Ice Satellite /
  Trans.
  from English E. Kanishcheva - Children's publishing house "Pink Giraffe", 2020. - 376 p. — ISBN 978-5-4370-0198-1.

Literature[ | ]

Books

• Ferguson K.
  Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work. - Transworld, 2011. - ISBN 978-1-4481-1047-6.
• Larsen K.
  Stephen Hawking: A Biography. - Greenwood biographies, 2005. - ISBN 0313323925, ISBN 9780313323928.
• White M., Gribbin J.
  Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science. - National Academies Press, 2002. - ISBN 978-0-309-08410-9.
• Mania H.
  Stephen Hawking = Hubert Mania. — 2nd ed. - M.: Binom. Knowledge Laboratory, 2014. - 192 p. : ill. With. — ISBN 978-5-9963-2314-2.
• Hawking J.
  Being Hawking. — Eksmo, 2020. — (Civilization). — ISBN 978-5-699-79131-6.
• K. Fergusson.
  Stephen Hawking: Life and Science (audio version available). - Astrel, Corpus, 2014. - ISBN 978-5-17-083135-7.

Articles

• Carr BJ, Ellis GFR, Gibbons GW, Hartle JB, Hertog T, Penrose R, Perry MJ, Thorne KS
  Stephen William Hawking CH CBE. 8 January 1942—14 March 2020 // Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. — 2020. — Vol. 66. - P. 269-308. - doi:10.1098/rsbm.2019.0001.
• Castelvecchi D.
  Science mourns Stephen Hawking's death (English) // Nature. — 2018. — Vol. 555. - P. 423-424. - doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02957-4.
• Page DN
  Stephen William Hawking // Physics Today. — 2020. — Vol. 71, No. 8. - P. 60. - doi:10.1063/PT.3.4003.
• Preskill J.
  Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) (English) // Science. — 2020. — Vol. 360. - P. 156. - doi:10.1126/science.aat6775.
• Rees M.
  Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) (English) // Nature. — 2020. — Vol. 555. - P. 444. - doi:10.1038/d41586-018-02839-9.
• Hawking, Stephen William // Biographical encyclopedia of scientists, 3rd ed. /ed. J. Daintith. - CRC Press, 2009. - P. 334-335.
• Kolchinsky I.G., Korsun A.A., Rodriguez M.G.
  Stephen William Hawking // Astronomers: A Biographical Guide. — 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 1986. - 512 p.
• Khramov Yu. A.
  Hawking Stephen William // Physicists: Biographical Reference / Ed. A. I. Akhiezer. — Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M.: Nauka, 1983. - P. 290-291. — 400 s. — 200,000 copies. (in translation)