Kita tahu sang genius setelah Einstein ini hidup, memberi ceramah dan mengajar di Cambridge diatas kursi roda karena kelumpuhan total yang dideritanya. Karya ilmiahnya adalah mengenai cosmology dalam segala aspeknya, mulai dari black holes, single theory of everything, sampai teori big bang mengenai asal mula alam semesta. Dia terkenal karena bukunya yang dapat dipahami orang awam, yaitu A Brief History of Time (1988). Banyak buku ilmiah ditulis Stephen Hawking, antara lain The Large Scale Strructure of Spacetime (bersama GFR Ellis), General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey (bersama W. Israel) dan 300 Years of Gravity (bersama W. Israel). Karyanya dianggap luar biasa, terlebih lagi mengingat kondisi fisiknya: 25 tahun sebelum ia menulis A Brief History of Time, ia terserang penyakit jarang yaitu ALS (Ameliotropic Lateral Sclerosis) penyakit yang lebih dikenal dengan nama penyakit Lou Gehrig. Penyakit ini menyebar ke seluruh jaringan saraf motorik, sehingga Stephen Hawking lumpuh total dan tidak bisa berbicara. Kema-mana dia pakai kursi roda bermesin accu, dan bicaranya menggunakan komputer khusus yang mengeluarkan suara seperti robot dalam film Return of the Jedi.
Salam, RM ------------------------------ Global hopes for Stephen Hawking software By Shubranshu Choudhary in Delhi A leading Indian software engineer says he hopes the global scientific community can benefit from work he is doing for the paralysed physicist Stephen Hawking. Professor Hawking, who became an international celebrity with his book A Brief History Of Time, is working with Delhi-based software developer Arun Mehta. Dr Mehta is leading a team developing software to help Professor Hawking who is suffering from the degenerative motor neurone disease. Victims of motor neuron disease lose all muscle tone in their body. For years now Stephen Hawking has been confined to a wheel-chair and has been using a special kind of custom-made software developed in order to help him communicate. This specially designed software tries to predict what the user wishes to type or do next. Communication through the use of this software is made possible by the pressing of a single computer button attached to Professor Hawking's wheel chair, this button being his ticket to interact, move around, write and speak. As his disorder intensifies, he is looking to upgrade the software to combat the disease. Universal appeal This is where Dr Arun Mehta comes into the picture. I am developing this as an open source software so that scientists all over the world can work on this platform and modify it according to specific requirements Arun Mehta Dr Mehta and Professor Hawking have already met three times at Cambridge University, where the professor is based. "Meeting Stephen Hawking is an experience in itself, and a life changing one at that," Dr Mehta says. Not only is it a personal honour to be in a position to help someone of Professor Hawking's stature, it is a matter of pride for the entire Indian scientific community that this opportunity and honour has been bestowed upon us. "I am developing this as an open source software so that scientists all over the world can work on this platform and modify it according to specific requirements," he added. This project will become the basis of a platform to develop software for people with all kinds of disabilities in the near future. What is unique about Dr Mehta's platform is that it can be used by people with the most serious disabilities who may otherwise have little hope of communicating and interacting with others. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/3974407.stm Published: 2004/11/02 12:11:09 GMT ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.uni.cc *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru; 4. Posting: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
