Stephen W. Hawking has a mind that goes beyond today's way of thinking. His attempts to identify a grand unifying theory that unites everything we know about physics and even science itself. Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford, England. He spent much of his childhood in and around London and always sought to learn. He loved the stars and space. Stephen Hawking wanted to study mathematics and physics at university, but his father thought there would be no jobs in mathematics, so Hawking took physics and chemistry, and just a little mathematics. No one realized how smart Hawking was until his sophomore year of college. One ordinary day in college, Hawking fell down a flight of stairs. He had forgotten who he was for two hours. When he came to, he took a Mensa test and got a 250. He thought nothing of the fall and continued as he normally would. When Hawking graduated he took a trip to Persia. He became seriously ill during this trip and was later diagnosed with amtitropic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gerhig's disease. When the doctors diagnosed him with 2 and a half years to live, he practically gave up. He stopped researching and experimenting and even considered not finishing his doctorate. He was in severe depression, until he met a woman named Jane Wilde. After finishing her thesis, Jane Wilde and Stephen Hawking got married. From then on, Hawking moved on to bigger things. The doctor's diagnosis was wrong, Hawking would not die within two and a half years. Hawking is credited with many things having to do with black holes and space. While Hawking's problems didn't kill him, they didn't get better. Years after his diagnosis, Hawking is eventually confined to a wheelchair and can barely move. He speaks through a speech synthesizer and feeds himself through interventions.