Stephen hawking was born in 1942 in oxford, england, the son of isobel and frank hawking, a medical researcher. Hawking describes himself as having been an ordinary english schoolboy. He attended oxford university and went on to pursue his graduate studies in physics at cambridge university. It was during his college years that hawking first began to show the symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the degenerative neurological disorder known in the united states as despite this ailment, he went on to marry, have three children, and all the while build his reputation as a physicist. Inside the book, you will find:The basics and history of quantum physics. You will meet the greatest scientists who helped make it wonderful and mysterious. Quantum computing. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Quantum entanglement. The fifth force of nature. What are black holes and paradoxes? In his written exam at oxford he had achieved neither a first nor a second degree. A first would have entitled him to undertake postgraduate studies at cambridge; a second at oxford.