Stephen Hawking - An inspiration

Photo: Professor Srwphen Hawking attends the launch of “Speak to Me”, an exhibition which explores the role of new technologies in improving communication for people with disabilities in 1993( Reuters)

It was sometime in May 1998, I was a young naïve engineer working at Silicon Graphics Inc. Those were the days that Silicon Graphics on Shoreline Blvd in Mountain View was one of the most high flying companies in the valley – the Silicon Valley.

A brief History in Time was just published a few years earlier and still had a lot of buzz. I hardly understood the Big Bang theory or the Black Hole or general relativity or quantum mechanics. Though was an engineer by education, these were subjects that only Stephen Hawking could talk about.

One day the whole office was a buzz and posters were stuck everywhere that Stephen Hawking was going to visit Silicon Graphics and would give a talk in the Atrium on the Big Bang Theory( hopefully I remember it right).

An hour before the arrival, the whole atrium was filled up and buzzing with excitement. I guess that was the slowest hour in all our life’s. This was pre mobile phone and pre selfie era. All we did was strike a conversation with your neighbors - random people in the company and then talk on Stephen Hawking .  Everyone trying to outdo the number of facts that we knew on Stephen Hawking.

When the actual time of his arrival came and as he wheeled into the atrium, there was pin drop silence from a room full of literally a million people. Everywhere you see there were a sea of people waiting to hear from this man who inspired multiple generations of ordinary people and multiple generations of scientists. This man who was told he had only two years to live and continued to live 50+ years after that.

I was in that sea of people in the Atrium. One of the most unforgettable events in my life. I don’t remember anything he said since I was only watching how he was so physically challenged and yet did not let that get into his way at all. He talked and talked through his voice device on his life story, his research and then his big bang theory, but all I could hear is don’t make your challenges your limitations.

I feel I am extremely privileged to be in that room on that day. It almost felt God planted me in there. It definitely changed my perspective and touched my life. It taught me never to cry in the time of adversity and that you can actually make it your strength.

One Wednesday March 14^th my son whatapp’d me that my inspiration Stephen Hawking has passed away. I definitely had a nanosec breathless pause in my life.

I am glad I met this greatest living scientist and as a tribute to him I will definitely, dust my copy of “The Brief History of Time” lying in my bookshelf and give it a read. Hopefully this time around I might understand it a little bit.

A bit Salute to you Sir and may your soul rest in peace. You were always an inspiration to me.