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140-705: Norcroft C was developed by Codemist, established in November 1987 by a group of academics from the University of Cambridge and University of Bath ; Arthur Norman , Alan Mycroft and John Fitch . Development took place from at least 1985; the company was dissolved in May 2016. The name Norcroft is derived from the original authors' surnames. Acorn C/C++ was released for the RISC OS operating system, developed in collaboration with Acorn Computers . This compiler for

280-464: A viva (oral examination) with the Oxford examiners necessary. Hawking was concerned that he was viewed as a lazy and difficult student. So, when asked at the viva to describe his plans, he said, "If you award me a First, I will go to Cambridge. If I receive a Second, I shall stay in Oxford, so I expect you will give me a First." He was held in higher regard than he believed; as Berman commented,

420-418: A "cosmic censorship conjecture" – that there could be no "naked singularities" unclothed within a horizon – was correct. After discovering his concession might have been premature, a new and more refined wager was made. This one specified that such singularities would occur without extra conditions. The same year, Thorne, Hawking and Preskill made another bet, this time concerning

560-614: A black hole evaporates. This information paradox violates the fundamental tenet of quantum mechanics, and led to years of debate, including " the Black Hole War " with Leonard Susskind and Gerard 't Hooft . Cosmological inflation  – a theory proposing that following the Big Bang, the universe initially expanded incredibly rapidly before settling down to a slower expansion – was proposed by Alan Guth and also developed by Andrei Linde . Following

700-458: A book on Euclidean quantum gravity with Gary Gibbons and published a collected edition of his own articles on black holes and the Big Bang. In 1994, at Cambridge's Newton Institute , Hawking and Penrose delivered a series of six lectures that were published in 1996 as "The Nature of Space and Time". In 1997, he conceded a 1991 public scientific wager made with Kip Thorne and John Preskill of Caltech . Hawking had bet that Penrose's proposal of

840-409: A brief period after the turn of the 20th century, this allowed the steamboat ladies to receive ad eundem degrees from the University of Dublin . In 1998, a special graduation ceremony was held in which the women who attended Cambridge before admission was allowed in 1948 were finally conferred their degrees. Beginning in 1921, women were awarded diplomas that conferred the title associated with

980-422: A broad administrative grouping of related faculties and other units. Each has an elected supervisory body known as a Council, composed of representatives of the various constituent bodies. The University of Cambridge maintains six such schools: Teaching and research at the university is organised by faculties. The faculties have varying organisational substructures that partly reflect their respective histories and

1120-401: A challenge, and he decided to answer only theoretical physics questions rather than those requiring factual knowledge. A first-class degree was a condition of acceptance for his planned graduate study in cosmology at the University of Cambridge . Anxious, he slept poorly the night before the examinations, and the result was on the borderline between first- and second-class honours, making

1260-470: A church choir. Hellyer Jones became close to the Hawking family and, by the mid-1980s, he and Jane had developed romantic feelings for each other. According to Jane, her husband was accepting of the situation, stating "he would not object so long as I continued to love him". Jane and Hellyer Jones were determined not to break up the family, and their relationship remained platonic for a long period. By

1400-588: A common law corporation. Its corporate titles include the Chancellor , Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge. The college faculties are responsible for giving lectures, arranging seminars, performing research, and determining the syllabi for teaching, all of which is overseen by the university's general board. Together with the central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor ,

1540-432: A complete range of academic specialties and related courses. Some colleges maintain a relative strength and associated reputation for expertise in certain academic disciplines. Churchill , for example, has a reputation for its expertise and focus on the sciences and engineering, in part due to the requirement imposed by Winston Churchill upon the college's founding that 70% of its students studied mathematics, engineering, and

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1680-591: A conference in Moscow in October 1981, Hawking and Gary Gibbons organised a three-week Nuffield Workshop in the summer of 1982 on "The Very Early Universe" at Cambridge University, a workshop that focused mainly on inflation theory. Hawking also began a new line of quantum-theory research into the origin of the universe. In 1981 at a Vatican conference, he presented work suggesting that there might be no boundary – or beginning or ending – to

1820-438: A documentary on space colonisation, as a 2017 episode of Tomorrow's World . In August 2015, Hawking said that not all information is lost when something enters a black hole and there might be a possibility to retrieve information from a black hole according to his theory. In July 2017, Hawking was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Imperial College London . Hawking's final paper – A smooth exit from eternal inflation? –

1960-403: A few months. At that time, younger boys could attend one of the houses. Hawking attended two private (i.e. fee-paying) schools , first Radlett School and from September 1952, St Albans School, Hertfordshire , after passing the eleven-plus a year early. The family placed a high value on education. Hawking's father wanted his son to attend Westminster School , but the 13-year-old Hawking

2100-655: A global leader in the study of mathematics. The university's examination in mathematics, known as the Mathematical Tripos , was initially compulsory for all undergraduates studying for the Bachelor of Arts degree, the most common degree first offered at Cambridge. From the time of Isaac Newton in the late 17th century until the mid-19th century, the university maintained an especially strong emphasis on applied mathematics , and especially mathematical physics . Students awarded first class honours after completing

2240-402: A health-crisis which led to his accepting, albeit reluctantly, some nursing services at home. At the same time, he was also making a transition in his approach to physics, becoming more intuitive and speculative rather than insisting on mathematical proofs. "I would rather be right than rigorous", he told Kip Thorne. In 1981, he proposed that information in a black hole is irretrievably lost when

2380-435: A large number of traditions, myths, and legends. Some are true, some are not, and some were true but have been discontinued but have been propagated nonetheless by generations of students and tour guides. One such discontinued tradition is that of the wooden spoon , the prize awarded to the student with the lowest passing honours grade in the final examinations of the university's Mathematical Tripos . The last of these spoons

2520-490: A lower age demographic in the city. Most of the university's older colleges are located near the city centre, through which River Cam flows. Students and others traditionally punt on the River Cam, which provides views of the university's buildings that surround the river. A few of the notable University of Cambridge buildings are King's College Chapel ; the history faculty building designed by James Stirling ; and

2660-577: A possible resolution of the fine-tuning question . Hawking continued to travel widely, including trips to Chile, Easter Island , South Africa, Spain (to receive the Fonseca Prize in 2008), Canada, and numerous trips to the United States. For practical reasons related to his disability, Hawking increasingly travelled by private jet, and by 2011 that had become his only mode of international travel. By 2003, consensus among physicists

2800-534: A research fellowship at Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge ; he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology, in March 1966; and his essay "Singularities and the Geometry of Space–Time" shared top honours with one by Penrose to win that year's prestigious Adams Prize . In his work, and in collaboration with Penrose, Hawking extended

2940-401: A result, the university received its first systematic state support in 1919, and a Royal commission was appointed in 1920 to recommend that the university (but not its colleges) begin receiving an annual grant. Following World War II , the university experienced a rapid expansion in applications and enrollment, partly due to the success and popularity gained by many Cambridge scientists. This

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3080-460: A school in their home. Despite their families' financial constraints, both parents attended the University of Oxford , where Frank read medicine and Isobel read Philosophy, Politics and Economics . Isobel worked as a secretary for a medical research institute, and Frank was a medical researcher. Hawking had two younger sisters, Philippa and Mary, and an adopted brother, Edward Frank David (1955–2003). In 1950, when Hawking's father became head of

3220-412: A theory of top-down cosmology , which says that the universe had not one unique initial state but many different ones, and therefore that it is inappropriate to formulate a theory that predicts the universe's current configuration from one particular initial state. Top-down cosmology posits that the present "selects" the past from a superposition of many possible histories. In doing so, the theory suggests

3360-406: A tracheotomy in 1985, Hawking required a full-time nurse and nursing care was split across three shifts daily. In the late 1980s, Hawking grew close to one of his nurses, Elaine Mason, to the dismay of some colleagues, caregivers, and family members, who were disturbed by her strength of personality and protectiveness. In February 1990, Hawking told Jane that he was leaving her for Mason and departed

3500-481: A union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics . He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking

3640-488: A university department. The colleges also decide which undergraduates to admit to the university, in accordance with university standards and regulations. Costs to students for room and board vary considerably from college to college. Similarly, the investment in student education by each college at the university varies widely between the colleges. Cambridge has 31 colleges, two of which, Murray Edwards and Newnham , admit women only. The other colleges are mixed . Darwin

3780-624: A variety of checks and balances. The council is obliged to advise Regent House on matters of general concern to the university, which it does by publishing notices to the Cambridge University Reporter , the university's official journal. In March 2008, Regent House voted to increase from two to four the number of external members on the council, and this was approved by Her Majesty the Queen in July 2008. The General Board of

3920-644: Is Deborah Prentice , who began her role in July 2023. While the Chancellor's office is ceremonial, the Vice-Chancellor serves as the university's de facto principal administrative officer. The university's internal governance is carried out almost entirely by Regent House augmented by some external representation from the Audit Committee and four external members of the University's Council . The university Senate consists of all holders of

4060-407: Is a collegiate university , which means that its colleges are self-governing and independent, each with its own property, endowments, and income. Most colleges bring together academics and students from a broad range of disciplines. Each faculty, school, or department at the university includes academics affiliated with differing colleges. The university is legally structured as an exempt charity and

4200-470: Is based in Addenbrooke's Hospital , where medical students undergo their three-year clinical placement period after obtaining their BA degree. The West Cambridge site is undergoing a major expansion and will host new buildings and fields for university sports. Since 1990, Cambridge Judge Business School , on Trumpington Street , provides management education courses and is consistently ranked among

4340-505: Is held currently by David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville , who succeeded the Duke of Edinburgh following his retirement on his 90th birthday in June 2011. Lord Sainsbury was nominated by the nomination board. The election took place on 14 and 15 October 2011 with Sainsbury taking 2,893 of the 5,888 votes cast, and winning on the election's first count. The current vice-chancellor

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4480-610: The Albert Einstein Medal and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. In 1979, Hawking was elected Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. His inaugural lecture in this role was titled: "Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?" and proposed N = 8 supergravity as the leading theory to solve many of the outstanding problems physicists were studying. His promotion coincided with

4620-491: The Cambridge Theological Federation and associated in partnership with the university. The University of Cambridge's 31 colleges are: In addition to the 31 colleges, the university maintains over 150 departments, faculties, schools, syndicates, and other academic institutions. Members of these are usually members of one of the colleges, and responsibility for the entire academic programme of

4760-1017: The Fitzwilliam Museum and Cambridge University Botanic Garden . Cambridge's 116 libraries hold a total of approximately 16 million books, around nine million of which are in Cambridge University Library , a legal deposit library and one of the world's largest academic libraries . Cambridge alumni, academics, and affiliates have won 124 Nobel Prizes. Among the university's notable alumni are 194 Olympic medal -winning athletes and several historically iconic and transformational individuals in their respective fields, including Francis Bacon , Lord Byron , Oliver Cromwell , Charles Darwin , Rajiv Gandhi , John Harvard , Stephen Hawking , John Maynard Keynes , John Milton , Vladimir Nabokov , Jawaharlal Nehru , Isaac Newton , Sylvia Plath , Bertrand Russell , Alan Turing , Ludwig Wittgenstein , and others. Prior to

4900-792: The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985), the Paul Dirac Medal (1987) and, jointly with Penrose, the prestigious Wolf Prize (1988). In the 1989 Birthday Honours , he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH). He reportedly declined a knighthood in the late 1990s in objection to the UK's science funding policy. Hawking pursued his work in physics: in 1993 he co-edited

5040-557: The INMOS Transputer was developed in collaboration with Perihelion Software . This compiler for Cambridge Consultants ' XAP processor is another Norcroft compiler. This programming-tool -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge , England. Founded in 1209,

5180-605: The Large Hadron Collider . Hawking quickly conceded that he had lost his bet and said that Higgs should win the Nobel Prize for Physics , which he did in 2013. In 2007, Hawking and his daughter Lucy published George's Secret Key to the Universe , a children's book designed to explain theoretical physics in an accessible fashion and featuring characters similar to those in the Hawking family. The book

5320-703: The MA or higher degrees and is responsible for electing the Chancellor and the High Steward. Until 1950 when the Cambridge University constituency was abolished, it was also responsible for electing two members of the House of Commons . Prior to 1926, the university Senate was the university's governing body, fulfilling the functions that Regent House has provided since. Regent House is the university's governing body, comprising all resident senior members of

5460-791: The University of Cambridge . Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of physicians. In October 1959, at the age of 17, he began his university education at University College, Oxford , where he received a first-class BA degree in physics . In October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge , where, in March 1966, he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology . In 1963, at age 21, Hawking

5600-480: The University of Cambridge's Chancellor was given special powers allowing him to prosecute criminals and reestablish order in the city. Attempts at reconciliation between the city's residents and students followed; in the 16th century, agreements were signed to improve the quality of streets and student accommodation around the city. However, this was followed by new confrontations when the plague reached Cambridge in 1630 and colleges refused to assist those affected by

5740-425: The black hole information paradox . Thorne and Hawking argued that since general relativity made it impossible for black holes to radiate and lose information, the mass-energy and information carried by Hawking radiation must be "new", and not from inside the black hole event horizon . Since this contradicted the quantum mechanics of microcausality, quantum mechanics theory would need to be rewritten. Preskill argued

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5880-490: The models of physical cosmology developed by Alexander Friedmann , then it must have begun as a singularity. In 1969, Hawking accepted a specially created Fellowship for Distinction in Science to remain at Caius. In 1970, Hawking postulated what became known as the second law of black hole dynamics , that the event horizon of a black hole can never get smaller. With James M. Bardeen and Brandon Carter , he proposed

6020-405: The singularity theorem concepts first explored in his doctoral thesis. This included not only the existence of singularities but also the theory that the universe might have started as a singularity. Their joint essay was the runner-up in the 1968 Gravity Research Foundation competition. In 1970, they published a proof that if the universe obeys the general theory of relativity and fits any of

6160-432: The souls of the founders. University of Cambridge colleges were often associated with chapels or abbeys . The colleges' focus began to shift in 1536, however, with the dissolution of the monasteries and Henry VIII 's order that the university disband the canon law that governed the university's faculty and stop teaching scholastic philosophy . In response, colleges changed their curricula from canon law to classics ,

6300-455: The 1980s, Hawking's marriage had been strained for many years. Jane felt overwhelmed by the intrusion into their family life of the required nurses and assistants. The impact of his celebrity status was challenging for colleagues and family members, while the prospect of living up to a worldwide fairytale image was daunting for the couple. Hawking's views of religion also contrasted with her strong Christian faith and resulted in tension. After

6440-470: The Bachelor of Arts degree. But since women were not yet admitted to the Bachelor of Arts degree program, they were excluded from the university's governance structure. Since University of Cambridge students must belong to a college, and since established colleges remained closed to women, women found admissions restricted to the few university colleges that had been established only for them. Darwin College ,

6580-645: The Bible, and mathematics. Nearly a century later, the university found itself at the centre of a Protestant schism. Many nobles, intellectuals, and also commoners saw the Church of England as too similar to the Catholic Church and felt that it was being used by The Crown to usurp the counties' rightful powers. East Anglia emerged as the centre of what ultimately became the Puritan movement . In Cambridge,

6720-571: The Cambridge Teaching College for Women, Murray Edwards College , founded in 1954 by Rosemary Murray as New Hall , and Lucy Cavendish College , founded in 1965. Prior to ultimately being permitted admission to the university in 1948, female students were granted the right to take University of Cambridge exams beginning in the late 19th century. Women were also allowed to study courses, take examinations, and have prior exam results recorded retroactively, dating back to 1881; for

6860-458: The Faculties is responsible for the university's academic and educational policies and is accountable to the council for its management of these affairs. Faculty boards are accountable to the general board; other boards and syndicates are accountable either to the general board or to the council. Under this organizational structure, the university's various arms are kept under supervision of both

7000-562: The New Court and Cripps Buildings at St John's College . The brickwork of several colleges is notable: Queens' College has some of the earliest patterned brickwork in England and the brick walls of St John's College are examples of English bond , Flemish bond , and Running bond . The university is divided into several sites, which house the university's various departments, including: The university's School of Clinical Medicine

7140-661: The PhD. As required by Cambridge University policy, Hawking retired as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 2009. Despite suggestions that he might leave the United Kingdom as a protest against public funding cuts to basic scientific research, Hawking worked as director of research at the Cambridge University Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. On 28 June 2009, as a tongue-in-cheek test of his 1992 conjecture that travel into

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7280-640: The Puritan movement was particularly strong at Emmanuel , St Catharine Hall , Sidney Sussex , and Christ's . These colleges produced many nonconformist graduates who greatly influenced, by social position or preaching, some 20,000 Puritans who ultimately left England for New England and especially Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Great Migration decade of the 1630s, settling in the colonial-era Colony of Virginia and other fledgling American colonies. The university quickly established itself as

7420-651: The Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1974. He worked with a friend on the faculty, Kip Thorne , and engaged him in a scientific wager about whether the X-ray source Cygnus X-1 was a black hole. The wager was an "insurance policy" against the proposition that black holes did not exist. Hawking acknowledged that he had lost

7560-1005: The Stephen W. Hawking Science Museum in San Salvador , El   Salvador, the Stephen Hawking Building in Cambridge, and the Stephen Hawking Centre at the Perimeter Institute in Canada. Appropriately, given Hawking's association with time, he unveiled the mechanical "Chronophage" (or time-eating) Corpus Clock at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in September 2008. During his career, Hawking supervised 39 successful PhD students. One doctoral student did not successfully complete

7700-510: The Tripos system, feeling that students were becoming too focused on accumulating high exam marks at the expense of the subject itself. Pure mathematics at the University of Cambridge in the 19th century achieved great things, though it largely missed out on substantial developments in French and German mathematics. By the early 20th century, however, pure mathematical research at Cambridge reached

7840-458: The UK, and it proved to be an extraordinary success, rising quickly to the top of best-seller lists in both countries and remaining there for months. The book was translated into many languages, and as of 2009, has sold an estimated 9   million copies. Media attention was intense, and a Newsweek magazine-cover and a television special both described him as "Master of the Universe". Success led to significant financial rewards, but also

7980-470: The UK, endowment reserve stood at £2.469 billion. The 31 colleges reported collective endowment reserve of £4.582 billion . In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, the central university, excluding colleges, reported total consolidated income of £2.518 billion, of which £569.5 million was from research grants and contracts. In July 2022, the Dear World, Yours Cambridge Campaign for

8120-519: The United Kingdom to pursue full-time postgraduate study at Cambridge. In October 2021, the university suspended its £400m collaboration with the United Arab Emirates , citing allegations that UAE was involved in illegal hacking of the university's computer and storage systems using NSO Group 's Pegasus software. UAE also was behind the leak of over 50,000 phone numbers, including hundreds belonging to British citizens. Stephen Toope ,

8260-446: The United States several times for conferences and physics-related visits. Jane began a PhD programme through Westfield College in medieval Spanish poetry (completed in 1981). The couple had three children: Robert, born May 1967, Lucy , born November 1970, and Timothy, born April 1979. Hawking rarely discussed his illness and physical challenges—even, in a precedent set during their courtship, with Jane. His disabilities meant that

8400-442: The University of Cambridge is the world's third-oldest university in continuous operation . The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for Cambridge after a dispute with local townspeople. The two ancient English universities, although sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge . In 1231, 22 years after its founding,

8540-481: The academic work "ridiculously easy". His physics tutor, Robert Berman, later said, "It was only necessary for him to know that something could be done, and he could do it without looking to see how other people did it." A change occurred during his second and third years when, according to Berman, Hawking made more of an effort "to be one of the boys". He developed into a popular, lively and witty college member, interested in classical music and science fiction. Part of

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8680-545: The arts, architecture, and archaeology were donated by Viscount Fitzwilliam of Trinity College , who also founded Fitzwilliam Museum in 1816. In 1847, Prince Albert was elected the university's chancellor in a close contest with the Earl of Powis . As chancellor, Albert reformed university curricula beyond its initial focus on mathematics and classics, adding modern era history and the natural sciences . Between 1896 and 1902, Downing College sold part of its land to permit

8820-441: The bet in 1990, a bet that was the first of several he was to make with Thorne and others. Hawking had maintained ties to Caltech, spending a month there almost every year since this first visit. Hawking returned to Cambridge in 1975 to a more academically senior post, as reader in gravitational physics. The mid-to-late 1970s were a period of growing public interest in black holes and the physicists who were studying them. Hawking

8960-516: The central administration and Regent House. The Cambridge University Endowment Fund is the main vehicle of investment for the University. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, the university group, excluding colleges, reported a total endowment of £3.736 billion. The figure includes both restricted and unrestricted funds. When reported strictly using Statements of Recommended Practice (SORPs) guidelines, which accounted for only donations that meet certain criteria among non-profit organizations in

9100-572: The centuries. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, strong clashes led to attacks and looting of university properties as locals contested the privileges granted by the British government to the University of Cambridge's academic staff. Residents burned university property in Market Square to the famed rallying cry " Away with the learning of clerks, away with it! ". Following these events,

9240-419: The challenges of celebrity status. Hawking travelled extensively to promote his work, and enjoyed partying into the late hours. A difficulty refusing the invitations and visitors left him limited time for work and his students. Some colleagues were resentful of the attention Hawking received, feeling it was due to his disability. He received further academic recognition, including five more honorary degrees,

9380-546: The chancellor and the guild of scholars granted the new university ius non trahi extra , or the right not to be drawn out, for three years, meaning its members could not be summoned to a court outside of the diocese of Ely. After Cambridge was described as a studium generale in a letter from Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, and confirmed as such by Pope John XXII 's 1318 papal bull , it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to visit Cambridge to study or give lecture courses. The 31 colleges of

9520-516: The college faculties make up the University of Cambridge. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels by the university. The Cambridge University Library is the university's largest and primary library. Squire Law Library is the primary library for the university's students of law . Individual colleges each maintain a multi-discipline library designed for each college's respective undergraduates. College libraries tend to operate 24/7 and their usage in generally restricted to members of

9660-514: The college. Conversely, libraries operated by departments are generally open to all students of the university, regardless of subject. The colleges are self-governing institutions with their own endowments and property, each founded as components of the university. All students and most academics are attached to a college. The colleges' importance lies in the housing, welfare, social functions, and undergraduate teaching they provide. All faculties, departments, research centres, and laboratories belong to

9800-511: The colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, managing their own personnel and policies, and all students are required to have a college affiliation within the university. Undergraduate teaching at Cambridge is centred on weekly small-group supervisions in the colleges with lectures, seminars, laboratory work, and occasionally further supervision provided by the central university faculties and departments. The university operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including

9940-536: The construction of Downing Site , the university's grouping of scientific laboratories for the study of anatomy , genetics , and Earth sciences . During this period, the New Museums Site was erected, including the Cavendish Laboratory , which has since moved to West Cambridge , and other departments for chemistry and medicine. The University of Cambridge began to award PhD degrees in

10080-416: The date of their matriculation . Lucy Cavendish , which was previously a women-only mature college, began admitting both men and women in 2021. All other colleges admit both undergraduate and postgraduate students without any age restrictions. Colleges are not required to admit students in all subjects; some colleges choose not to offer subjects such as architecture, art history, or theology, but most offer

10220-525: The death of a local Oxford -area woman, were hanged by town authorities without first consulting ecclesiastical authorities, who traditionally would be inclined to pardon scholars in such cases. But during this time, Oxford's town authorities were in conflict with King John . Fearing more violence from Oxford townsfolk, University of Oxford scholars began leaving Oxford for more hospitable cities, including Paris, Reading , and Cambridge . Enough scholars ultimately took residence in Cambridge to form, along with

10360-492: The disease by locking their sites. Such conflicts between Cambridge's residents and university students have largely disappeared since the 16th century, and the university has grown as a source of enormous employment and expanded wealth in Cambridge and the region. The university also has proven a source of extraordinary growth in high tech and biotech start-ups and established companies and associated providers of services to these companies. The economic growth associated with

10500-600: The division of parasitology at the National Institute for Medical Research , the family moved to St Albans , Hertfordshire. In St Albans, the family was considered highly intelligent and somewhat eccentric; meals were often spent with each person silently reading a book. They lived a frugal existence in a large, cluttered, and poorly maintained house and travelled in a converted London taxicab. During one of Hawking's father's frequent absences working in Africa,

10640-527: The engagement gave him "something to live for". The two were married on 14 July 1965 in their shared hometown of St Albans. The couple resided in Cambridge, within Hawking's walking distance to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). During their first years of marriage, Jane lived in London during the week as she completed her degree at Westfield College . They travelled to

10780-453: The examiners "were intelligent enough to realise they were talking to someone far cleverer than most of themselves". After receiving a first-class BA degree in physics and completing a trip to Iran with a friend, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge , in October 1962. Hawking's first year as a doctoral student was difficult. He was initially disappointed to find that he had been assigned Dennis William Sciama , one of

10920-461: The festival has existed since 1918 and the celebration itself originated even earlier at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall in 1880. The first television broadcast of the festival was in 1954. The university occupies a central location within the city of Cambridge . University of Cambridge students represent approximately 20 percent of the town's population, which was 145,674 as of 2021, resulting in

11060-422: The film to be scientific rather than biographical, but he was persuaded otherwise. The film, while a critical success, was not widely released. A popular-level collection of essays, interviews, and talks titled Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays was published in 1993, and a six-part television series Stephen Hawking's Universe and a companion book appeared in 1997. As Hawking insisted, this time

11200-419: The first graduate college of the university, matriculated both male and female students from its inception in 1964 and elected a mixed fellowship. Undergraduate colleges, starting with Churchill , Clare , and King 's colleges, began admitting women between 1972 and 1988. Among women's colleges at the university, Girton began admitting male students in 1979, and Lucy Cavendish began admitting men in 2021. But

11340-505: The first messages Hawking produced with his speech-generating device was a request for his assistant to help him finish writing A Brief History of Time . Peter Guzzardi, his editor at Bantam, pushed him to explain his ideas clearly in non-technical language, a process that required many revisions from an increasingly irritated Hawking. The book was published in April 1988 in the US and in June in

11480-628: The first of many students who fulfilled this role. The family spent a generally happy and stimulating year in Pasadena. Hawking returned to Cambridge in 1975 to a new home and a new job, as reader . Don Page , with whom Hawking had begun a close friendship at Caltech, arrived to work as the live-in graduate student assistant. With Page's help and that of a secretary, Jane's responsibilities were reduced so she could return to her doctoral thesis and her new interest in singing. Around December 1977, Jane met organist Jonathan Hellyer Jones when singing in

11620-509: The first third of the 20th century; the first Cambridge PhD in mathematics was awarded in 1924. The university contributed significantly to the Allies' forces in World War I with 13,878 members of the university serving and 2,470 being killed in action during the war. Teaching, and the fees it earned, nearly came to a halt during World War I, and severe financial difficulties followed. As

11760-512: The focus was entirely on science. Hawking continued his writings for a popular audience, publishing The Universe in a Nutshell in 2001, and A Briefer History of Time , which he wrote in 2005 with Leonard Mlodinow to update his earlier works with the aim of making them accessible to a wider audience, and God Created the Integers , which appeared in 2006. Along with Thomas Hertog at CERN and Jim Hartle, from 2006 on Hawking developed

11900-525: The founders of modern cosmology, as a supervisor rather than the noted astronomer Fred Hoyle , and he found his training in mathematics inadequate for work in general relativity and cosmology. After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease , Hawking fell into a depression – though his doctors advised that he continue with his studies, he felt there was little point. His disease progressed more slowly than doctors had predicted. Although Hawking had difficulty walking unsupported, and his speech

12040-401: The founding of Sidney Sussex in 1596 and that of Downing in 1800. The most recent college to be established is Robinson , which was built in the late 1970s. Most recently, in March 2010, Homerton College achieved full university college status, making it technically the university's newest full college. In medieval times, many colleges were founded so that their members could pray for

12180-517: The founding of the University of Cambridge in 1209, Cambridge and the area surrounding it already had developed a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation due largely to the intellectual reputation and academic contributions of monks from the nearby bishopric church in Ely . The founding of the University of Cambridge, however, was inspired largely by an incident at the University of Oxford during which three Oxford scholars, as an administration of justice in

12320-420: The four laws of black hole mechanics , drawing an analogy with thermodynamics . To Hawking's irritation, Jacob Bekenstein , a graduate student of John Wheeler , went further—and ultimately correctly—to apply thermodynamic concepts literally. In the early 1970s, Hawking's work with Carter, Werner Israel, and David C. Robinson strongly supported Wheeler's no-hair theorem , one that states that no matter what

12460-404: The framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation . Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s, and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by

12600-594: The help of the mathematics teacher Dikran Tahta , they built a computer from clock parts, an old telephone switchboard and other recycled components. Although known at school as "Einstein", Hawking was not initially successful academically. With time, he began to show considerable aptitude for scientific subjects and, inspired by Tahta, decided to study mathematics at university. Hawking's father advised him to study medicine, concerned that there were few jobs for mathematics graduates. He also wanted his son to attend University College, Oxford , his own alma mater . As it

12740-467: The highest international standard, thanks largely to G. H. Hardy and his collaborators, J. E. Littlewood and Srinivasa Ramanujan . W. V. D. Hodge and others helped establish Cambridge as a global leader in geometry in the 1930s. The Cambridge University Act 1856 formalised the university's organisational structure and introduced the study of many new subjects, including theology, history, and Modern languages . Resources necessary for new courses in

12880-446: The many scholars already there, the nucleus for the new university's formation. By 1225, a chancellor of the university was appointed, and writs issued by King Henry III in 1231 established that rents in Cambridge were to be set secundum consuetudinem universitatis , according to the custom of the university, and established a panel of two masters and two townsmen to determine these. A letter from Pope Gregory IX two years later to

13020-602: The mathematics Tripos exam are called wranglers , and the top student among them is known as the Senior Wrangler , a position that has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." The Cambridge Mathematical Tripos is highly competitive and has helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including James Clerk Maxwell , Lord Kelvin , and Lord Rayleigh . However, some famous students, such as G. H. Hardy , disliked

13160-451: The naming of Garret Hostel Lane and Garret Hostel Bridge , a street and bridge in Cambridge. The University of Cambridge's first college, Peterhouse , was founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham , the Bishop of Ely . Multiple additional colleges were founded during the 14th and 15th centuries, and colleges continued to be established during modern times, though there was a 204-year gap between

13300-427: The need to finance his children's education and home-expenses, he decided in 1982 to write a popular book about the universe that would be accessible to the general public. Instead of publishing with an academic press, he signed a contract with Bantam Books , a mass-market publisher, and received a large advance for his book. A first draft of the book, called A Brief History of Time , was completed in 1984. One of

13440-478: The opposite, that since quantum mechanics suggests that the information emitted by a black hole relates to information that fell in at an earlier time, the concept of black holes given by general relativity must be modified in some way. Hawking also maintained his public profile, including bringing science to a wider audience. A film version of A Brief History of Time , directed by Errol Morris and produced by Steven Spielberg , premiered in 1992. Hawking had wanted

13580-549: The original material from which a black hole is created, it can be completely described by the properties of mass , electrical charge and rotation. His essay titled "Black Holes" won the Gravity Research Foundation Award in January 1971. Hawking's first book, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time , written with George Ellis , was published in 1973. Beginning in 1973, Hawking moved into

13720-449: The other female-only colleges have remained female-only colleges as of 2023. As a result of St Hilda's College, Oxford , ending its ban on male students in 2008, Cambridge is now the only remaining university in the United Kingdom with female-only colleges; the two female-only colleges at the university are Newnham and Murray Edwards . As of the 2019–2020 academic year, the university's male to female enrollment, including post-graduates,

13860-438: The past is effectively impossible, Hawking held a party open to all, complete with hors d'oeuvres and iced champagne, but publicised the party only after it was over so that only time-travellers would know to attend; as expected, nobody showed up to the party. On 20 July 2015, Hawking helped launch Breakthrough Initiatives , an effort to search for extraterrestrial life . Hawking created Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth ,

14000-492: The physics community about the prevailing theories of the creation of the universe: the Big Bang and Steady State theories. Inspired by Roger Penrose 's theorem of a spacetime singularity in the centre of black holes, Hawking applied the same thinking to the entire universe; and, during 1965, he wrote his thesis on this topic. Hawking's thesis was approved in 1966. There were other positive developments: Hawking received

14140-434: The present-day University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the university; no college within the University of Cambridge is as old as the university itself. The colleges within the university were initially endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, which were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, and they have left some traces, including

14280-458: The responsibilities of home and family rested firmly on his wife's shoulders, leaving him more time to think about physics. Upon his appointment in 1974 to a year-long position at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California , Jane proposed that a graduate or post-doctoral student live with them and help with his care. Hawking accepted, and Bernard Carr travelled with them as

14420-580: The rest of the family spent four months in Mallorca visiting his mother's friend Beryl and her husband, the poet Robert Graves . Hawking began his schooling at the Byron House School in Highgate , London. He later blamed its " progressive methods " for his failure to learn to read while at the school. In St Albans, the eight-year-old Hawking attended St Albans High School for Girls for

14560-406: The same book he suggested that the existence of God was not necessary to explain the origin of the universe. Later discussions with Neil Turok led to the realisation that the existence of God was also compatible with an open universe. Further work by Hawking in the area of arrows of time led to the 1985 publication of a paper theorising that if the no-boundary proposition were correct, then when

14700-445: The sciences. Other colleges have more informal academic focus and even demonstrate ideological focus, such as King's , which is known for its left-wing political orientation, and Robinson and Churchill , both of which have a reputation for academic focus on sustainability and environmentalism. Three theological colleges at the university, Westcott House , Westminster College , and Ridley Hall Theological College , are members of

14840-498: The student with the lowest passing grade deserving of the spoon, leading to discontinuation of the tradition. Each Christmas Eve, The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols , sung by the Choir of King's College , are broadcast globally on BBC World Service television and radio and syndicated to hundreds of additional radio stations in the U.S. and elsewhere. The radio broadcast has been a national Christmas Eve tradition since 1928, though

14980-738: The study of quantum gravity and quantum mechanics . His work in this area was spurred by a visit to Moscow and discussions with Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich and Alexei Starobinsky , whose work showed that according to the uncertainty principle , rotating black holes emit particles. To Hawking's annoyance, his much-checked calculations produced findings that contradicted his second law, which claimed black holes could never get smaller, and supported Bekenstein's reasoning about their entropy . His results, which Hawking presented from 1974, showed that black holes emit radiation, known today as Hawking radiation , which may continue until they exhaust their energy and evaporate . Initially, Hawking radiation

15120-617: The top 20 business schools in the world by Financial Times . Many of the sites are quite close together, and the area around Cambridge is reasonably flat. Furthermore, students are not permitted to hold car park permits except under special circumstances. For these reasons, of the favourite modes of transport for students is the bicycle; an estimated one-fifth of journeys in the city are made by bike. The University of Cambridge and its constituent colleges include many notable locations, some of which are iconic or of historical, academic, religious, and cultural significance, including: Cambridge

15260-513: The transformation resulted from his decision to join the college boat club, the University College Boat Club , where he coxed a rowing crew. The rowing coach at the time noted that Hawking cultivated a daredevil image, steering his crew on risky courses that led to damaged boats. Hawking estimated that he studied about 1,000 hours during his three years at Oxford. These unimpressive study habits made sitting his finals

15400-419: The universe began." Hawking did not rule out the existence of a Creator, asking in A Brief History of Time "Is the unified theory so compelling that it brings about its own existence?", also stating "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God"; in his early work, Hawking spoke of God in a metaphorical sense. In

15540-612: The universe stopped expanding and eventually collapsed, time would run backwards. A paper by Don Page and independent calculations by Raymond Laflamme led Hawking to withdraw this concept. Honours continued to be awarded: in 1981 he was awarded the American Franklin Medal , and in the 1982 New Year Honours appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). These awards did not significantly change Hawking's financial status, and motivated by

15680-534: The universe. Hawking subsequently developed the research in collaboration with Jim Hartle , and in 1983 they published a model, known as the Hartle–Hawking state . It proposed that prior to the Planck epoch , the universe had no boundary in space-time; before the Big Bang, time did not exist and the concept of the beginning of the universe is meaningless. The initial singularity of the classical Big Bang models

15820-511: The university and colleges concluded, raising a total of £2.217 billion in commitments. The university maintains multiple scholarship programs. The Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students covers tuition costs for two students and maintenance grants for up to four years. In 2000, Bill Gates of Microsoft donated US$ 210 million through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to endow Gates Cambridge Scholarships for students from outside

15960-741: The university and the colleges, the Chancellor, the High Steward , the Deputy High Steward, and the Commissary. Public representatives of Regent House are the two Proctors , elected to serve for one year terms upon their nominations by the colleges. Although the University Council is the university's principal executive and policy-making body, the Council reports to, and is held accountable by, Regent House through

16100-582: The university is divided among them. The university has a department dedicated to providing continuing education , the Institute of Continuing Education , which is based primarily in Madingley Hall , a 16th-century manor house in Cambridgeshire . Its award-bearing programmes include both undergraduate certificates and part-time master's degrees. A school in the University of Cambridge is

16240-414: The university was recognised with a royal charter , granted by King Henry III . The University of Cambridge includes 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and over 150 academic departments, faculties, and other institutions organised into six schools . The largest department is Cambridge University Press & Assessment , which has £1 billion of annual revenue and reaches 100 million learners. All of

16380-498: The university's high tech and biotech growth has been labeled the Cambridge Phenomenon, and has included the addition of 1,500 new companies and as many as 40,000 new jobs added between 1960 and 2010, mostly at Silicon Fen , a business cluster launched by the university in the late 20th century. Partly because of the University of Cambridge's extensive history, which now exceeds 800 years, the university has developed

16520-547: The university's operational needs, which may include a number of departments and other institutions. A small number of bodies called syndicates hold responsibility for teaching and research, including for the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate , the University Press , and the University Library . The Chancellor of the university is limitless term position that is mainly ceremonial and

16660-467: The university's outgoing Vice-Chancellor, said the decision to suspend its collaboration with UAE also was a result of additional revelations about UAE's Pegasus software hacking. Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist , cosmologist , and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at

16800-480: The university, which arranges lectures and awards degrees, but undergraduates receive their overall academic supervision within the colleges through small group teaching sessions, which often include just one student; though in many cases students go to other colleges for supervision if the teaching fellows at their college do not specialise in a student's particular area of academic focus. Each college appoints its own teaching staff and fellows, both of whom are members of

16940-664: Was a Fellow of the Royal Society , a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences , and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC 's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons . He died in 2018 at the age of 76, having lived more than 50 years following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease. Hawking

17080-782: Was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948 . The constituency was not a geographical area; rather, its electorate consisted of university graduates. Before 1918, the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a doctorate or MA degree. For the first several centuries of its existence, as was the case broadly in England and the world, the University of Cambridge was only open to male students. The first colleges established for women were Girton College , founded by Emily Davies in 1869, Newnham College , founded by Anne Clough and Henry Sidgwick in 1872, Hughes Hall , founded in 1885 by Elizabeth Phillips Hughes as

17220-402: Was almost unintelligible, an initial diagnosis that he had only two years to live proved unfounded. With Sciama's encouragement, he returned to his work. Hawking started developing a reputation for brilliance and brashness when he publicly challenged the work of Hoyle and his student Jayant Narlikar at a lecture in June 1964. When Hawking began his doctoral studies, there was much debate in

17360-569: Was awarded in 1909 to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club at St John's College . It was over one metre in length and had an oar blade for a handle. It can now be seen outside the Senior Combination Room of St John's College. Since 1908, examination results have been published alphabetically within class rather than in strict order of merit, which made it difficult to ascertain

17500-492: Was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking ( née Walker). Hawking's mother was born into a family of doctors in Glasgow , Scotland. His wealthy paternal great-grandfather, from Yorkshire, over-extended himself buying farm land and then went bankrupt in the great agricultural depression during the early 20th century. His paternal great-grandmother saved the family from financial ruin by opening

17640-402: Was controversial. By the late 1970s and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a significant breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1974 , a few weeks after the announcement of Hawking radiation. At the time, he was one of the youngest scientists to become a Fellow. Hawking was appointed to

17780-423: Was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually, over decades, paralysed him. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device , initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in

17920-476: Was explained by examining all the alternative histories of universes, with the information loss in those with black holes being cancelled out by those without such loss. In January 2014, he called the alleged loss of information in black holes his "biggest blunder". As part of another longstanding scientific dispute, Hawking had emphatically argued, and bet, that the Higgs boson would never be found. The particle

18060-663: Was followed by sequels in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016. In 2002, following a UK-wide vote, the BBC included Hawking in their list of the 100 Greatest Britons . He was awarded the Copley Medal from the Royal Society (2006), the Presidential Medal of Freedom , which is America's highest civilian honour (2009), and the Russian Special Fundamental Physics Prize (2013). Several buildings have been named after him, including

18200-457: Was growing that Hawking was wrong about the loss of information in a black hole. In a 2004 lecture in Dublin, he conceded his 1997 bet with Preskill, but described his own, somewhat controversial solution to the information paradox problem, involving the possibility that black holes have more than one topology . In the 2005 paper he published on the subject, he argued that the information paradox

18340-435: Was ill on the day of the scholarship examination. His family could not afford the school fees without the financial aid of a scholarship, so Hawking remained at St Albans. A positive consequence was that Hawking remained close to a group of friends with whom he enjoyed board games, the manufacture of fireworks, model aeroplanes and boats, and long discussions about Christianity and extrasensory perception . From 1958 on, with

18480-425: Was nearly balanced with its total student population being 53% male and 47% female. In 2018 and later years, the university has come under some criticism and faced legal challenges over alleged sexual harassment at the university. In 2019, for example, former student Danielle Bradford, represented by sexual harassment lawyer Ann Olivarius , sued the university for its handling of her sexual misconduct complaint. "I

18620-436: Was not possible to read mathematics there at the time, Hawking decided to study physics and chemistry. Despite his headmaster's advice to wait until the next year, Hawking was awarded a scholarship after taking the examinations in March 1959. Hawking began his university education at University College, Oxford , in October 1959 at the age of 17. For the first eighteen months, he was bored and lonely – he found

18760-518: Was not without controversies, however. For example, Cambridge researchers were accused in 2023 of helping to develop weapon systems for Iran. The University of Cambridge was one of only two universities to hold parliamentary seats in the Parliament of England and was later one of 19 represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The constituency was created by a Royal charter of 1603 and returned two members of parliament until 1950 when it

18900-475: Was posthumously published in the Journal of High Energy Physics on 27 April 2018. Hawking met his future wife, Jane Wilde , at a party in 1962. The following year, Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease . In October 1964, the couple became engaged to marry, aware of the potential challenges that lay ahead due to Hawking's shortened life expectancy and physical limitations. Hawking later said that

19040-403: Was proposed to exist as part of the Higgs field theory by Peter Higgs in 1964. Hawking and Higgs engaged in a heated and public debate over the matter in 2002 and again in 2008, with Higgs criticising Hawking's work and complaining that Hawking's "celebrity status gives him instant credibility that others do not have". The particle was discovered in July 2012 at CERN following construction of

19180-730: Was regularly interviewed for print and television. He also received increasing academic recognition of his work. In 1975, he was awarded both the Eddington Medal and the Pius XI Gold Medal , and in 1976 the Dannie Heineman Prize , the Maxwell Medal and Prize and the Hughes Medal . He was appointed a professor with a chair in gravitational physics in 1977. The following year he received

19320-523: Was replaced with a region akin to the North Pole. One cannot travel north of the North Pole, but there is no boundary there – it is simply the point where all north-running lines meet and end. Initially, the no-boundary proposal predicted a closed universe , which had implications about the existence of God. As Hawking explained, "If the universe has no boundaries but is self-contained... then God would not have had any freedom to choose how

19460-423: Was the first college to admit both men and women. In 1972, Churchill , Clare , and King's were the first previously all-male colleges to admit female undergraduates. In 1988, Magdalene became the last all-male college to accept women. Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates, and Hughes Hall , St Edmund's , and Wolfson admit only mature undergraduate and graduate students who are 21 years or older on

19600-693: Was told that I should think about it very carefully because making a complaint could affect my place in my department", Bradford alleged in 2019. In 2020, hundreds of current and former students accused the university in a letter, citing "a complete failure" to deal with sexual misconduct complaints. The relationship between the university and the city of Cambridge has sometimes been uneasy. The phrase town and gown continues to be employed to distinguish between Cambridge residents (town) and University of Cambridge students (gown), who historically wore academical dress . Ferocious rivalry between Cambridge's residents and university students have periodically erupted over

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