Mia Gradelski
Mr. Ippolito
AP Biology: Current Event #20 Review
March 18, 2018
Associated Press. “How Stephen Hawking Defied ALS To Become the Physicist of Our Time.”
Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2018, <www.popularmechanics.com/science/a19430581/how-stephen-hawking-defied-als-to-become-the-physicist-of-our-time/.>
Known to be one of the greatest physicists of all time, Stephen Hawking has not only shaped the world of science but has proven that ALS is able to be defeated. He defined ALS “as a degenerative disease that eats away at the nervous system” He died this week at the age of 76, never imagining that he would survive this long. When he was diagnosed at the age of 21 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as ALS, he was traumatized. Not only his effort to stay alive fascinated the world but his contribution to the world of science. In the beginning of the article, his credits were listed as being, “a masterwork of popular science, one that guided a generation of enthusiasts through the esoteric world of anti-particles, quarks,and quantum theory.” Primarily, the article goes in depth with Hawking’s struggle and surprisingly long life with ALS. It was fascinating to read that “Hawking defied the normally fatal illness for more than 50 years, pursuing a brilliant career that stunned doctors and thrilled his fans.” Although readers are impressed upon Hawking’s incredible life span, the writer also focuses on the daily experiences that all ALS patients have to endure and misconceptions that patients have with believing that “their perfect minds are trapped in an imperfect body” as a scientist. Hawking’s incredible advancements and achievements in science were most credited in the article. The writer states, “Hawking first gained prominence for his theoretical work on black holes. Disproving the belief that black holes are so dense that nothing could escape their gravitational pull, he showed that black holes leak a tiny bit of light and other types of radiation, now known as ‘Hawking radiation.’” Hawking has made a prolific impact on the way the next generation hypothesizes about physics and cosmology along with the next leading doctors on ALS.
Over the past decades, Hawking has met with prominent world leaders such as Nelson Mandela and President Obama that lead a lasting impact on the world. The article goes in detail about Hawking’s success and how he is compared to Einstein and Newton. In the science world, he has made a prolific achievement in cosmology as well as in physics, discovering the universe’s origin and evolution. The article mentions the work he has done with Jim Hartle of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The writer states, “Hawking proposed in 1983 that space and time might have no beginning and no end. ‘Asking what happens before the Big ang is like asking for a point one mile north of the North Pole.’” Furthermore, the article specifies on the revised rejections that Hawking made upon his previous work on the idea that “objects sucked into black holes simply disappeared, perhaps to enter an alternate universe. Instead, he said he believed objects could be spit out of black holes in a mangled form.” This lead to further theories to be made regarding the paradox in scientific thinking. Overall, this article demonstrates the key impact and legacy that Stephen Hawking has presented upon the scientific world that is demonstrated in his perseverance with ALS and his theoretical theories in physics and cosmology.
After reading this article, I certainly think that writer did an excellent job describing the work Hawking has done over his career and how it has lead the new generation of thinkers to further advance his theories in cosmology and physics. In addition, I like how the writer describes specific events when Hawking met with world leaders such as President Obama and Nelson Mandela to illustrate the impact he has lead in his life. Some weaknesses that I had observed were the lack of information on ALS. It would of been interesting to learn more about his struggle and lifestyle dealing with ALS Lastly, at the end of the article, I thought it was a bit boring how the writer gave the readers a timeline format of Hawking’s life rather than discussing his battle with ALS. To improve upon these weaknesses, I would recommend finding more evidence from his family or doctors that described Hawking’s experiences with this deadly disease and how he is one of very few patients in the world to have lived up to 76.
Sarah Goodell
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Bio: Current Event Comment
18 March, 2018
Current Event #19
Associated Press. “How Stephen Hawking Defied ALS To Become the Physicist of Our Time.”
Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2018,
This week, I read Mia’s review on the Popular Mechanics article titled “How Stephen Hawking Defied ALS To Become the Physicist of Our Time.” Specifically, Mia did three things very well in her reflection. Firstly, Mia provided her audience with a thorough summary of the article and informed her audience about the notable events of Stephen Hawking’s life. By doing this, Mia properly set up the rest of her review and made sure that her readers understood the context of the article before reading further. Secondly, Mia incorporated quotes from the original article, specifically quotes directly from the author. This allowed Mia to establish her credibility as a critic. Despite including quotes from the original author, I wish that she had also used quotes from prominent figures in society who had known Hawking well. Finally, Mia did a great job describing the importance of this topic in-depth and I feel that I fully understand the impact of this article on the world. By including this, Mia convinced her audience that this article was of value and should be read.
Although Mia’s article was very detailed and informative, she could improve upon two things in particular for next time. Firstly, she had a few grammatical errors, specifically punctuation and sentence structure errors, and general writing mistakes in her review. If she improved upon this, her reflection would flow more easily and would make her a more credible critic. Secondly, Mia could try to improve upon her critique paragraph. Although she commended the original article and pointed out its positive aspects, she never addressed the flaws of the article. If she had done this instead, her readers would be more informed and prepared about the original article as a whole before reading it.
I chose to read and comment on Mia’s article because I am very fascinated by Stephen Hawking’s accomplishments and was saddened by his death. Mia’s review was very in-depth and allowed me to better understand the highlights of Stephen Hawking’s life and how well he was known by certain figures in our society. This reflection and the original article are important and should be read and understood because Stephen Hawking has affected each of our lives and will continue to do so in the years to come.
This week, I read Mia's review on the Popular Mechanics article "How Stephen Hawking Defied ALS To Become the Physicist of Our Time." In her review Mia did a good job of summarizing the article and bringing up the important points that the article covered such as the important events in Hawking's life as well as his most important accomplishments. She clearly demonstrated that she had a very good understanding of the contents of the article itself. Mia also made good use of quotations, including many relevant quotes from the article as a reference for the specific points that she critiqued. She used just the right amount of quotes; not too little as to affect our understanding of the article but not too much to substitute for her own words. The third thing that I feel Mia did well was point on the strong suits in the article. She emphasized the article's strengths, such as how it did a good job detailing Hawking's life and career.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I did feel that their were a few weak points in Mia's critique. The first was that in my opinion she did not do a good job describing the article's weaknesses. Mia said that a weakness of the article is that it should have given more information on ALS. I do not feel that this is the case because Hawking's life with ALS is the focus of the article, not the disease itself. Also the article gave enough information about ALS that allows the reader to understand Hawking's condition as is. The second weak point was the grammar; throughout Mia's critique there were blatant spelling errors and short, choppy sentences that made it hard to read. Eliminating these errors would make the critique flow much more smoothly and make it a much easier read.
I chose to comment on Mia's article because throughout my life I have been interested in space and physics and the works of Stephen Hawking. Hawking was such an incredible scientist and his battle with ALS only make his achievements that much more amazing. The fact that Hawking had such a beautiful mind that gifted so much knowledge to humanity makes his death a truly tragic loss. I so much respect for Hawking as he did not let his illness hold him back from being one of the most accomplished scientists of all time.