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The compendium with all the texts and links.

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1. kapitel opgives til prøven.

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Questions for Different Ways of Living.docx

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Grønlandske var forsøgskaniner i Danmark

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Grønlandske var forsøgskaniner i Danmark

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Perspektivering til the stolen generations

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In the 1950s, a group of Inuit children were taken from their families in Greenland to be re-educated as model Danish citizens. More than 60 years later, they want the Danish government to apologise for an experiment that did enormous damage.

"It was a lovely summery day, when two grand Danish gentlemen showed up at our house," says Helene Thiesen. It was 1951 and she lived with her family in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

"They had an interpreter with them and my older sister and I thought: What are they doing here? We were very curious. We were told to go outside while mum spoke to them.

"They asked my mum if she would be willing to send me to Denmark. I would learn to speak Danish and get a good education - they said it was a great chance for me.

"My mum said, 'No,' to them twice. But they kept pushing her and said we think you should send Helene to Denmark, it's only for six months. And she'll get the chance of a bright future - so we think you should let her go."

Find out more

Listen to Denmark's Inuit Experiment from 08:50 BST on Wednesday 10 June on Witness on BBC World Service Radio.

Or catch up later online.

Denmark had resolved to improve living conditions in its Arctic colony. Many people still made a living by hunting seal, only a small percentage spoke Danish, and tuberculosis was widespread.

The best way to modernise the island was to create a new type of Greenlander, the Danish authorities decided, so they sent out telegrams to priests and headteachers asking them to identify intelligent children between the ages of six and 10. The plan - formed with the help of the charity Save the Children Denmark - was to send them to foster families in Denmark so they could be re-educated as "little Danes".

Many parents were reluctant to give up their children but eventually 21 families gave in.

Helene Thiesen's father had died from tuberculosis three months earlier and her mother was left on her own with three young children.

"My mum crouched down and explained to me, 'You're going to Denmark.' I said, 'What's Denmark?'

"'It's a country very far away,' mum said. 'But it's beautiful, it's just like paradise. You don't have to be sad,' she said."

In May 1951, the ship MS Disko set sail from Nuuk with 22 children on board.

"We walked down to the harbour from our house, with my little suitcase," says Thiesen.

"From the boat, I looked at my mum and I couldn't wave at her. I was too upset. I just kept my arms down. I thought, 'Why are you letting me leave?' We couldn't understand why they were shipping us away. What lay ahead? Everything was so uncertain.

"I remember arriving in Copenhagen. It was dusk and it was a very big harbour. And I thought my mum was wrong because I could see there were mountains in Denmark. But when we got closer I realised it was actually trees that looked like mountains. We didn't really know what they were. But they were tall and green and alive."

After they arrived in Denmark, the children were sent to live with foster families. But first they had to spend the summer at what was described as a "holiday camp", known as Fedgaarden.

"It later emerged that we were actually in quarantine," says Thiesen.

"The farm was so remote, we never saw any other houses. And we were quarantined because it was the first time a group of young children from Greenland had arrived in Denmark. There were fears that we could have something contagious.

"I kept thinking, 'What are we doing here and when are we going home?' I missed my mother and I was grieving for my dead father. I couldn't understand why I was being sent so far away."

The arrival of the Inuit children was such a prestigious project that the Queen of Denmark paid a visit to the camp.

"I didn't understand a thing - I was incredibly upset and walked around looking very serious all the time," says Thiesen.

"You can see it in the photograph where we are all gathered round the Queen: none of us is smiling. Of course there were happier moments when we went to the beach and so on. But when they put us to bed at night, we cried quietly. I felt very sad and unsafe there."

Next, the children were sent to foster families around the country. In December 1951 a Danish weekly magazine ran a double-page spread on the experiment, proclaiming its success.

"The way of life here in Denmark is so different from what these children of nature are accustomed to but their ability to adapt is remarkable. Disagreements - caused by their reaction to civilisation - happen very rarely," it read.

"The children from Greenland already speak Danish quite well but when joy or anger makes them agitated, a flood of Greenlandic words suddenly gushes out and the sounds of gobbledegook are heard throughout the house.

"Helene has never said a word to her foster parents... and responds only with a nod or a head-shake when spoken to. But she's happy to chat away to her foster sister Marianne, who is teaching her how to knit."

Helene Thiesen had developed eczema at Fedgaarden and it was decided that she should live with a doctor. To treat her eczema, he covered her elbows and heels with a black ointment and forbade her from entering the living room so as not to ruin the furniture.

"I didn't feel welcome in that family. I just felt like a stranger. The mother had mental health problems and lay in bed all the time.

"As far as adults were concerned, I didn't trust them. They had sent me to Denmark. Whenever they said anything to me, I just nodded or shook my head. I didn't want to answer them."

A few months later, when her eczema was under control, Thiesen was moved to a different family.

"The second foster family was like a fairy tale compared to the first. They were very warm-hearted people," she says.

Then, the following year, 16 of the 22 Inuit children, including Thiesen, were sent back to Greenland. Save the Children had arranged for the remaining six to be adopted by their Danish foster families.

"When the ship docked in Nuuk, I grabbed my little suitcase and rushed down the bridge into the arms of my mum," says Thiesen.

"And I talked and talked about all that I had seen. But she didn't answer. I looked up at her in confusion. After a while she said something but I couldn't understand what she was saying. Not a word. I thought, 'This is awful. I can't speak with my mother any more.' We spoke two different languages."

And that's when she got another surprise. While Thiesen had been away, another charity, the Danish Red Cross, had built a children's home in Nuuk. It said that after their stay in affluent Danish homes, the youngsters shouldn't live with their own families in "worse conditions".

"Our new 'mum' - the director of the children's home - tapped my shoulder and said, 'Come on, get on the bus, you're going to the orphanage.' I thought I was going home to my mum. Why was I being sent to a children's home? No-one answered. I just got on the bus and could hardly see the town through my tears."

At the home, the children were discouraged from speaking the Inuit language. "We wanted to learn Greenlandic again because most of the staff working at the children's home were Greenlanders. And they couldn't speak much Danish.

"But then the Danish manager showed up and went, 'What are you doing? You can't teach them Greenlandic. These children need to be educated and to move up in society. So you'll only be speaking Danish to them in future.'"

Thiesen's relationship with her mother was never rebuilt. "I felt very bitter about her decision to send me away. Really angry that she had let me go, and not just that - that she let me stay in the children's home, even though we lived in the same town.

"It was in the days when Greenland was a Danish colony. And the colonial masters - they were 'masters' in the worst sense of the word - they controlled everything and you didn't contradict a Dane. You just didn't even question what they said."

Thiesen says the experience had long-term consequences.

"Throughout my life, I could never understand why I was often sad and prone to tears. When I first met my husband Ove in 1967, he almost gave up on me because I cried so much," she says.

It wasn't until 1996, when she was 52 years old, that she discovered why she had been taken away from her mother.

The news did not come from the Danish government but from a Danish writer, who found a collection of documents in the Danish National Archives.

"She called me up and said, 'Are you sitting down? You've been part of an experiment.'

"I sat down on the floor and just wept."

On rare occasions, Helene and the other children meet, though she says only seven of them are left.

"We have all felt that this was wrong. We have felt a sense of loss and a lack of self-belief and those emotions haven't gone away," she says.

Far from serving as a model for cultural change in Greenland, the children ended up as a small, rootless and marginalised group on the periphery of their own society. Several of them became alcoholics and died young.

"Some of them became homeless and some just broke down. They lost their identity and they lost their ability to speak their mother tongue and with that, they lost their sense of purpose in life," says Thiesen.

She received a letter from the Danish Red Cross in 1998 in which it said it "regretted" its role in the episode.

Finally, in 2009, Save the Children Denmark apologised too. But an internal investigation showed that some of the documents detailing the organisation's involvement have disappeared - Save the Children admits they could have been deliberately destroyed.

"When we look at what happened, it was a clear violation of children's fundamental rights. There's hardly a rule that hasn't been broken here," says Mimi Jacobsen, secretary general of Save the Children Denmark.

"Their well-being was set aside in favour of a project. They meant well, but it all went terribly wrong. I suppose the thinking at the time was that they wanted to educate and improve Greenlanders to give them a better future.

"They wanted to create role models so that they could return to Greenland and move that society on. That was the political thinking behind the project. And Save the Children were asked by the Danish state to help - which unfortunately we did."

In 2010, the authorities in Greenland also called for an apology from the Danish government

The Danish Social Democratic party, then in opposition, agreed that should happen and called for an independent investigation. Then, after the party entered government in 2011 it went silent on the issue.

Thiesen says the experience did have some positive outcomes.

"Despite the fact that I swore blind that I would never marry a Dane because I was furious with the colonial power, I ended up with a Danish husband. Together with him and my children, we have had a happy life in Denmark. And I became fluent in Danish, got a degree and a career."

Thiesen went into childcare and became the head of an after school club. Now 71, she is retired and lives in southern Denmark.

"But as far as the Danish authorities are concerned, I have felt very bitter and very disappointed. I've not been able to understand how they could turn us into an experiment. It's just incomprehensible and I'm still bitter about it. I will be until the day I die."

Greenland at a glance

1721 A Danish settlement is established near present-day Nuuk and Greenland becomes a Danish colony

1940 The US assumes protective custody over Greenland during World War Two when Denmark is occupied by Germany

1953 Greenland becomes an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark and obtains representation in the Danish parliament

1979 Greenland attains home rule following a referendum - its parliament decides upon and administers internal matters, but Denmark retains control over constitutional affairs, foreign relations and defence
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The children taken from home for a social experiment

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In the 1950s, a group of Inuit children were taken from their families in Greenland to be re-educated as model Danish citizens. More than 60 years later, they want the Danish government to apologise for an experiment that did enormous damage.

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Her kan I perspektivere til The stolen indigenous children of Canada

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Canada will pay up to C$750m ($598m) in compensation to thousands of aboriginals who were forcibly removed as children from their families decades ago, promising to end "a terrible legacy".

The move is the latest attempt by the Liberal government of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to repair ties with Canada's often-marginalised indigenous population, which says it has been the victim of systemic racism for centuries.

In the so-called "Sixties Scoop", welfare authorities took about 20,000 aboriginal children from their homes between the 1960s and 1980s and placed them in foster care or allowed them to be adopted by non-indigenous families.

The compensation package is designed to settle many of the lawsuits launched by survivors, who say the forced removal deprived them of their heritage and led to mental disorders, substance abuse and suicide.

"Language and culture, apology, healing - these are essential elements to begin to right the wrong of this dark and painful chapter," said Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister in charge of relations with the indigenous population.

Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about 4% of the population, experience higher levels of poverty and incarceration and have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians. They are often victims of violent crime and addiction.

Indigenous activists complain Trudeau has broken repeated promises to improve their lives since taking office in late 2015. He reshuffled his cabinet in August to put more emphasis on helping aboriginal people.

Bennett, at times fighting back tears, told a news conference she had heard "truly heartbreaking stories" about loss of identity and alienation.

Marcia Brown Martel, an aboriginal chief who led the campaign for compensation, lamented the "stealing of children" and noted some of those involved lived as far away as New Zealand.

"Think of it as a puzzle, a great big puzzle. Pieces, people are missing," she told reporters.

Ottawa agreed the settlement after a Canadian court ruled earlier this year that the government breached its duty of care to the children.

Trudeau and other Canadian leaders have already apologized for the many abuses committed over a 150-year period when 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly separated from their parents and sent to church-run residential schools.

In 2015, an official report said the schools were an attempt to end the existence of aboriginals as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious and racial entities in Canada.
Topics

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Canada will pay compensation to thousands of indigenous 'stolen children'

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Canada will pay up to C$750m ($598m) in compensation to thousands of aboriginals who were forcibly removed as children from their families decades ago, promising to end "a terrible legacy". The move is the latest attempt by the Liberal government of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to repair ties with Canada's often-marginalised indigenous population, which says it has been the victim of systemic racism for centuries.

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Even after the launch of a $53.8-million national inquiry and an increased focus on the issue, there is still no way to tell how many Indigenous women and girls go missing in Canada each year.

An informal CBC News survey of national, provincial and municipal police forces across the country shows a patchwork approach to gathering and cataloguing information, with some agencies keeping track of the race, ethnicity or cultural affinity of murder victims but not of those who've gone missing.

"Unless we have this data, unless we have the numbers that are showing us what sort of trends are happening across this country ... we can't understand the reasons that our women are going missing," said Francyne Joe, president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.

Since 2005, her group has been pushing to draw attention to the high rates of violence against Indigenous women.

The most comprehensive numbers on missing Indigenous women still come from the RCMP's 2014 report Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview.

For that report, the RCMP collected files from Statistics Canada and 300 police forces across the country. It showed there were 164 Indigenous women who were missing and 1,017 Indigenous women who had been murdered over the past 30 years.

An update in 2015 found 174 Indigenous women were missing, and 111 of those cases were considered to be under suspicious circumstances.

But those numbers aren't being updated every year, according to Byron Boucher, the RCMP's assistant commissioner for contract and aboriginal policing.

"We can keep track of our own data, but we no longer have access to any of the other police forces' data. To do it again, we would have to go back to that same 300-plus police forces and ask permission to be able to do that," Boucher told CBC News.

'Not a crime to be missing'

For its part, Statistics Canada now requires all police services to report whether a homicide victim is Indigenous, according to Warren Silver, an analyst with the agency.

But police forces don't have to report missing Indigenous women to the national statistics agency.

"We don't have data on missing women," said Silver. "It's not a crime to be missing."

Since August 2016, the RCMP has been using a new mandatory missing persons form that requires details about the ethnic origin and cultural affinity of each person reported missing.

"I think it's something that we probably should have been doing a lot earlier," said Boucher. "The more information, the better."

However, Boucher said, the information is not being gathered to get a national picture of the problem.

"We're collecting it not in terms of keeping it to determine a trend - I think we already know, based on the 2014 report, what the issues are," said Boucher. "We're collecting it more to solve that particular issue around a missing person."

While the RCMP is increasing efforts to find missing Indigenous women, it patrols only 20 per cent of the population in Canada. The rest of the country falls under the jurisdiction of provincial, municipal and First Nations police forces. The RCMP and other forces don't co-ordinate the questions on their missing persons forms.

"I don't know exactly what other police forces are doing," said Boucher. "But we are happy to share anything that we are doing."

National database incomplete

Police forces across the country feed information into a searchable national police database, known as CPIC, that includes missing persons reports. But it's only as complete as the data provided.

CBC News contacted 16 municipal and provincial police forces across the country to see if they are taking the same approach as the RCMP in asking about the cultural affinity or ethnic origin of missing persons.

That informal survey revealed that provincial police forces in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador ask questions to determine the race of the missing person.

It also found that 10 of the larger municipal forces ask about race and some also ask about the cultural affinity of missing people. They are:

Vancouver.

Calgary.

Regina.

Winnipeg.

Toronto.

Montreal.

Quebec City.

Fredericton.

Halifax.

Charlottetown.

But three other big-city forces - Edmonton, Saskatoon and Ottawa - do not.

'Big gap'

Joe, of the Native Women's Association of Canada, calls the status quo a "disappointing" patchwork approach to tracking missing Indigenous women.

"We don't have the full picture - there is a big gap, unfortunately," she said.

Joe said the solution is a national central database that can be used by all forces, which would help show where the problems are.

"Maybe we can understand why certain areas have a higher issue than other areas: Is it the urban centres? Is it northern communities? Is it on reserve? Is it off reserve?

"But until we have these tangible results, we are only guessing at this point."

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Still no clear numbers how many Indigenous women are missing in Canada | CBC News

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Even after the launch of a $53.8-million national inquiry and an increased focus on the issue, there is still no way to tell how many Indigenous women and girls go missing in Canada each year.

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The Apology by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruud

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The Apology by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruud

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Listen to the speech with subtitles

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Remembering Kevin Rudd's National Apology to the Stolen Generations

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13 February 2008 - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the long overdue and emotional National Apology to the Stolen Generations, their representatives, families and Indigenous Australia.

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Lots of videos with adults who were part of the Stolen Generations

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The ‘Stolen Generations’ Testimonies’ project is an initiative to record on film the personal testimonies of Australia’s Stolen Generations Survivors and share them online.

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Australian Children Living in the Out Back

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Australian Children Living in the Out Back

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School of the Air, Royal Flying Doctor Service, hobbies, sport etc.

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school of the air an Information site for school children to find out all about the school of the air in Australia

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"Weird" Al Yankovic - Amish Paradise (Parody of "Gangsta's Paradise" - Official Video)

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Search Youtube for lots of videos about the Amish people.
Also search for Rumspringa

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Meet the Amish 1 of 4 - First experience on an aeroplane

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Texts about the Amish people's way of living

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The farmlands of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country are among the most productive in the nation. Many of the farmers here are different from most Americans - different by choice. They are the Amish and Mennonites, also known as the Plain People.

Amish people have been using horses since the days when only horses made horsepower. In comparison to our fast-paced society, the simpler, family-centered Amish culture holds a special fascination for many of us.

The Amish trace their heritage back hundreds of years, and yet, despite all the time that has passed and the many changes that have taken place in society, they still live and work much as their forefathers did. For the Amish people, family, farm and faith are top priorities.

The Amish are devout in their faith, believing in a literal interpretation and application of Scripture as the Word of God. They take seriously the Biblical commands to separate themselves from the things of the world. They believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and to their way of life.

Today, there are over 25 different Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren church groups in Lancaster County, all holding to slightly different traditions and their own interpretations of the Bible. The more traditional groups are called 'old-order Amish.' They do not permit electricity or telephones in their homes.

By restricting access to television, radio, and telephones, the Amish are better able to keep the modern world from intruding into their lives.

The Amish have long preferred farming as a way of life. They feel their lifestyle and their families can best be maintained in a rural environment. While they do not permit the use of tractors in their fields, old order Amish groups will use modern farm equipment pulled by teams of horses or mules.

Old order groups do not own or operate automobiles, believing that cars would provide undesirable access to the ways of the world. You will often see their horses and buggies on our local roads.

They wear plain clothing styles, which is why they're called "Plain People." It is the simple, peaceful lifestyle of these plain people that attracts such a curiosity today. Many wonder how the Plain People can survive in their supposedly backward ways. Well, they're not only surviving - they're thriving! Since 1960, the Amish population in Lancaster County has almost tripled. According to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, the Lancaster County Amish population is estimated to be 38,095 (as of 2018).

Their separation from the rest of society actually helps to strengthen their community. Amish children attend one-room schoolhouses through the eighth grade. Amish worship services are held every other week in one of the members' homes. Socializing is an important part of Amish life.

The Amish have a strong sense of community spirit, and often come to the aid of those in need. Their barn raisings are a good example. Neighbors freely give of their time and their skills to help one another. And, of course, Amish women love making handmade quilts. Amish men who don't farm typically end up working in the construction industry or make what's become known as " Amish furniture " (which isn't a style in itself, but simply any kind of furniture made by the Amish).

The Amish people are generally private people and often find all the attention and curiosity about their lifestyle disturbing. They believe that the taking of photographs where someone is recognizable is forbidden by the Biblical prohibition against making any 'graven image.' Please respect their desire for privacy when on Amish Country tours.

With our society's current interest in restoring "family values," much can be learned from studying the Amish way of life. Their devotion to family and community, and their strong work ethic are good examples for our society at large.

We invite you to learn more about the Amish and their culture:

Amish Businesses, Amish Attractions, & Amish Made Products

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About the Amish, Mennonites & the "Plain People"

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The farmlands of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country are among the most productive in the nation. Many of the farmers here are different from most Americans - different by choice. They are the Amish and Mennonites, also known as the Plain People. Amish people have been using horses since the days when only horses made horsepower.

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Many captivating stories

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Inspiring stories, uplifting news, motivational quotes and advice to help you realize your full potential.

Inspiring stories, uplifting news, motivational quotes and advice to help you realize your full potential.

INSPIRING CELEBRITIES

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Inspiring stories, uplifting news, motivational quotes and advice to help you realize your full potential.

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He had a very extraordinary and different life

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Even though he could only communicate using a muscle in his cheek, Stephen Hawking made himself into a world-renowned physicist thanks to his groundbreaking work, impish wit, and refusal to let his disability stifle his potential.

His books are illustrated with images of himself flying through space in his wheelchair, he confessed that he would rather meet Marilyn Monroe over Issac Newton, and his mischevious grin often snuck into view as he pressed a button on his chair dedicated to cracking jokes.

Stephen Hawking was an undeniably fascinating figure. Whether you're an admirer of his exceptional work, a fan of his appearances in popular TV shows, or amused by his habit of mowing people down in his wheelchair - there was much more to this Cosmologist than met the eye.

An eccentric from birth

Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8th in 1942, in Oxford, England. His arrival was in the midst of WWII and a financial rough patch for his well-educated parents. But Stephen took great pride in knowing that he was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo Galilei.

His subtle peculiarities can be traced back to his family, who were often described as an "eccentric" bunch. Their family car was an old London taxi, they housed bees in the basement, and produced fireworks in the greenhouse. At dinner, each Hawking would intently read a book while the family ate in complete silence.

Stephen's father was a researcher in tropical medicine and tried to nudge his son into studying medicine too. But Stephen's fascination was for the stars and beyond. He often lay in the backyard along with his mother and siblings, staring up at the stars during warm summer evenings. It was here that young Stephen began to question why the universe is how it is, and why it exists at all.

His mother noted his budding passion for the skies, "Stephen always had a strong sense of wonder," she remembered fondly.

Down to more earthly interests, Stephen Hawking had a proclivity for playing and inventing boardgames. He also showed an interest in how things worked. At home, in his family's three-story fixer-upper house which never really got fixed, he curiously disassembled clocks and radios. Although, he was rarely successful at putting them back together again.

Surprisingly ordinary at school

In 1950, Stephen attended St. Albans School in Hertfordshire, where his sharp mind won him the nickname of "Einstein" amongst his peers. Although his grades were ranked among the worst in his class and his untidy classwork was the despair of his teachers.

Stephen's favorite subject by far was math. His teacher inspired him and a group of fellow intellectuals to build a computer out of recycled parts for solving basic mathematical equations. This interest in math later motivated him to pass a scholarship exam, earning him a spot at his father's old college - Oxford. The scholarship was greatly appreciated by his parents, who didn't have the money to send him without one.

A degree in Mathematics was his first choice, but this wasn't offered at Oxford. So he settled for a degree in what they did offer: Physics.

At 17, he began his first year at this prestigious college. It was quite boring for Stephen's proficient mind. He found the work "ridiculously easy" and could do it without peering over at his classmates or asking tutors for help. He quickly found himself feeling isolated and lonely.

But during his second and third year, his personality met a turning point. Stephen joined the college rowing club which encouraged him to cultivate a witty, lively and popular image. He wasn't very fit, so he was left in charge of steering the boat. But he soon became the most daring member of the club - steering his team into risky courses which often resulted in damaged boats.

In less devilish ventures, Stephen also developed an interest in classical music, science fiction, and investigating the complexities of the universe. His pursuit of these new hobbies barely left him any time for actual studying. At most, he averaged about an hour a day focusing on school.

These unimpressive studying habits led to anxiety and sleepless nights before his final examination. If he was to attend the University of Cambridge to study Cosmology, he needed to pass his degree with first honors. Which he did, in 1962.

Facing a life-changing diagnosis

In 1963, Stephen's postgraduate studies began at Cambridge - but so did the first signs of his disease. During his last year at Oxford, he had noticed a few unfamiliar difficulties while rowing. Sometimes he would trip for no apparent reason or slur his speech unexpectedly. But Stephen decided to keep these symptoms to himself.

One afternoon, while walking down the stairs at his University, he lost his balance and tumbled down the steps, hitting his head. Although shaken by the event, he chalked his embarrassing fall to a momentary distraction and thought nothing more of it.

However, it didn't take long for his symptoms to worsen. His speech became noticeably slurred and he was becoming much 'clumsier' than usual. It was only when he returned home for Christmas that his family caught on to his symptoms. They promptly sent him to the doctor, where Stephen was tediously examined for two long weeks.

Just after his 21st birthday, Stephen Hawking was given the devastating news that he had ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). A neurodegenerative disease where sufferers progressively lose control over their voluntary muscles. His doctor gave him two years to live.

Stephen Hawking now spent his days in his hospital bed, among the beeps of machines and the occasional bustle of passing nurses. He lay there thinking about his studies, his hobbies, and the intriguing girl he met at the New Years party. It all seemed so pointless now. Why bother doing anything when he was just going to die within two years?

He turned to look at the patient in the bed next to him, seeking a distraction. The patient in the bed nearby was a young boy suffering from Leukemia. Gradually, the boy's saddening state pushed Stephen to see his own diagnosis in a different light. Maybe earning his PhD and marrying that girl wouldn't be so pointless after all. In fact, there were many things he wanted to do with his life - before it was all over.

So Stephen Hawking left his hospital bed, proposed to Jane Wilde, and returned to Cambridge to continue his studies. After all,

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."
- Stephen Hawking

Reshaping Cosmology while battling ALS

In 1966, Stephen Hawking's PhD thesis on ' Properties Of Expanding Universes ' was approved. He was now happily married, determined to continue his research, and optimistic about his unpredictable future.

His initial work sent the first of many shockwaves throughout the scientific community. In 1974, he was elected as one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society thanks to his unprecedented radiation theory. This same year, Stephen Hawking also accepted a professorship at the California Institute of Technology. He continued his work with renowned physicists on groundbreaking theories that would forever change the way we perceive the universe.

But his achievements were on par with the progress of his disease. Stephen began to use a cane to help him walk. His speech became so slurred that only close family and friends could understand him. Soon enough, he needed help to get out of bed and feed himself. But Stephen was fiercely independent and determined to not be restricted by his disability.

After much persuasion, he was finally convinced to use a wheelchair to aid his mobility. As is now characteristic of Stephen Hawking, he quickly became notorious for his wild wheelchair driving. His biting wit and popularity among his colleagues continued, but his illness and occasional brashness distanced him from many close friends.

In 1979, Stephen Hawking became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a distinguished post once held by Isaac Newton. He went on to receive a host of honorary titles, degrees, and awards from major universities and scientific societies. His academic career was shooting upwards, but his physical health was declining.

Losing his speech and becoming a best-seller

In 1985, he suffered a life-threatening bout of Pneumonia and required a tracheotomy - which removed the last remnants of his speech. Stephen Hawking's ability to work was in great peril, and he now required around-the-clock care. A handful of nurses and a select few of his graduate students rose up to the occasion.

The following year, his dire case of speech impediment was helped by a voice synthesizer. This device allowed him to select words on a screen that would then be read out by a computer. Being Stephen, he frequently put his new toy to use by telling groan-worthy "science jokes". At the end of one particular interview, he asked an unsuspecting crewman "What is a black hole?" After a dramatic pause, he quipped "Something you find in a black sock."

When he first received the device, he used his eyes to control his writing, but during the last decade of his life, he could only move a muscle in his right cheek to spell out his words. It took him a full minute to write one word and ten minutes per sentence. It was a long exercise of patience, inducing much frustration and sometimes loneliness as some people grew impatient and would simply leave him.

But this setback in his writing didn't stop Stephen Hawking from documenting his astounding research. In 1988, he became a sort of "physics rockstar" with his controversial book A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. To his surprise, this complex book on Cosmology sold over a million copies - becoming the best-selling nonfiction book. Even more surprisingly, it maintained this position for over a year.

Celebrity status and a peaceful passing

Despite his condition, Stephen Hawking wrote and published over 15 books which remain hugely popular today. Their lasting impact on the fields of modern astronomy and theoretical physics made him one of the most distinguished thinkers of our time. Moreover, his efforts in making this knowledge widely accessible to the non-scientific community also made him into the best-known living physicist in the world.

His confinement to a wheelchair did nothing to subdue his adventurous spirit. Stephen traveled the world, was submerged in a submarine, and even suspended in a zero-gravity flight. He lent his voice and personality to popular TV series such as The Simpsons, The Big Bang, and Star Trek. His wit and child-like humor stole the spotlight in interviews with the likes of Conan O'Brien and John Oliver. He hosted and narrated , a series on tackling historically scientific questions. Stephen even saw his marriage and career unfold before his eyes during the Oscar-winning portrayal of his life The Theory of Everything.

At 76 years old, Stephen had long exceeded his goals and life expectancy. But on the morning of March 14th, 2018, the brilliant human being that was Stephen Hawking passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge. Curiously enough, just as his birth was on the deathday of Galileo, Stephen's own death coincided with the birthday of Albert Einstein. A fact that Stephen himself surely found amusing.

Although we have lost one of the most fascinating minds on earth, Stephen Hawking has left an insurmountable legacy. His far-reaching influence, teachings, and inspiration to others have and will continue to make waves in both academic and social spaces. He demonstrated that his disease was merely a test of patience and adaptability - not an obstacle. He proved over and over that no matter how bad life gets, success is always possible through determination, focus, and a little humor.

" Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. What matters is that you don't just give up."

- Stephen Hawking

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Jenny is a freelance copywriter in the areas of tech and productivity. She also enjoys writing unusual stories of success and giving tips to new freelance writers. You can read her useful ramblings on Medium.

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[VIDEO] Stephen Hawking's Life Story: The Peculiar Physicist Turned Global Icon - Goalcast

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Even though he could only communicate using a muscle in his cheek, Stephen Hawking made himself into a world-renowned physicist thanks to his groundbreaking work, impish wit, and refusal to let his disability stifle his potential.