Stephen William Hawking, ( born 8 January 1942) is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Hawking is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009 and has achieved commercial success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; his book A Brief History of Time appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

Hawking has a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that has gradually paralysed him over the decades. He now communicates using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device.

Some implications and consequences of the expansion of the universe are examined. In Chapter 1 it is shown that this expansion creates grave difficulties for the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravitation. Chapter 2 deals with perturbations of an expanding homogeneous and isotropic universe. The conclusion is reached that galaxies cannot be formed as a result of the growth of perturbations that were initially small. The propagation and absorption of gravitational radiation is also investigated in this approximation. In Chapter 3 gravitational radiation in an expanding universe is examined by a method of asymptotic expansions. The 'peeling off' behaviour and the asymptotic group are derived. Chapter 4 deals with the occurrence of singularities in cosmological models. It is shown that a singularity is inevitable provided that certain very general conditions are satisfied.

The extra cold space will be used to look at the bizarre ways that atoms behave when they are frozen. Nasa is about to create the coldest place in the universe. The space agency will fly a cool box sized chest up to the international space station, in which will be created a place 100 million times cooler than the depth of the space. In the box, a range of technologies will be used to cancel out the energy of the gas particles inside. By using lasers, a vacuum chamber and an electromagnetic “knife”, the particles will be slowed down until they are barely moving at all, once finished, the gas atoms inside the box will be just a billionth of a degree above absolute zero. At that state all the usual rules of physics fall away and quantum physics takes over. 

Inside that box, scientists then hope to explore the strange ways that atoms behave when they are cooled very intensely. The technology that comes from that work could be put to work in a wide range of important technologies – including quantum computers, improved sensors, and the kinds of atomic clocks that are used when navigating through space.

“studying these hyper-cold atoms cold reshape our understanding of matter and the fundamental nature of gravity” said CAL project scientist Robert Thompson of JPL. “the experiments we’ll do with the cold atom lab will give us insight into gravity and dark energy – some of the most pervasive forces in the universe”.

When the atoms start being cooled inside that box, turn into a special matter known as a bose-Einstein condensate. When that happen, the usual rules of physics are suspended, and the atoms behave more like waves. Bose-Einstein condensates have never been formed in space. Scientists have done so on earth, but they last for a moment, the pull of gravity means that the atoms fall on the ground, rather than widing those waves.