About this item
An intimate and inspirational exploration of Stephen Hawking--the man, the friend, and the physicist.Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous and influential physicists in the world. He left a mark in our culture that touched the lives of millions. His books have inspired countless scientists-to-be, and his research on the laws of black holes and the origin of the universe charted new territory. Recalling his nearly two-decades as a friend and collaborator with Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow brings a complex man into focus like no one has before. He introduces us to Hawking the colleague, for whom no detail is too minor to get right, a challenge for a man who could only type one word per minute. We meet Hawking the friend, who creates such strong connections with those around him that he can communicate powerfully with just the raise of an eyebrow.
About the Author
Leonard Mlodinow is a physicist and author. Mlodinow was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1959, of parents who were both Holocaust survivors. His father, who spent more than a year in the Buchenwald death camp, had been a leader in the Jewish resistance under Nazi rule in his hometown of Cz?stochowa, Poland. As a child, Mlodinow was interested in both mathematics and chemistry, and while in high school was tutored in organic chemistry by a professor from the University of Illinois. As recounted in his book, , his interest turned to physics during a semester he took off from college to spend on a kibbutz in Israel, during which he had little to do at night beside reading , which was one of the few English books he found in the kibbutz library. While a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, and on the faculty at Caltech, he developed (with N. Papanicolaou) a new type of perturbation theory for eigenvalue problems in quantum mechanics. Later, as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysik in Munich, Germany, he did pioneering work (with M. Hillery) on the quantum theory of dielectric media. Apart from his research and books on popular science, he also wrote the screenplay for the film (currently in production) and has been a screenwriter for television series, including and He co-authored (with Matt Costello) a children's chapter book series entitled Between 2008 and 2010, Mlodinow worked on a book with Stephen Hawking, entitled A step beyond Hawking's other titles, The Grand Design is said to explore both the question of the existence of the universe and the issue of why the laws of physics are what they are. Mlodinow currently teaches at Caltech and is in discussions about producing a book with the controversial spiritualist Deepak Chopra.
