A Letter to Dr. Stephen Hawking
I was just cleaning out my overly clogged e-mail folders, and came across this letter I sent to Dr. Stephen Hawking, one of my heroes. Just something I thought I should post here.
I want to first say that it is a great honor to be able to directly send you a message, in this age. This feels somewhat like the 19th century, where a regular citizen like myself could walk up to the President for a chat during his daily walks outside the White House, though, being deaf, I probably could not do that without modern technology. I realize that your time is very precious (however illusory it is), so I will keep this brief.
I am a doctoral candidate in Computer Science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I teach (despite my youthfulness) developmental mathematics at Gallaudet University as a means to support myself and to sustain my research. My research, which is just beginning, will deal with technologies that augments the communications and aural gap that deaf people routinely face on a daily basis. Right now, I am working on a project that uses a glove to electronically recognize the hand movements of sign language and translates it into voice. I have an especially high stake in this research, because it will enable me to communicate to any hearing person without relying on a paper and pen. I am working under Dr. Jose-Hernandez-Rebollar, the inventor of the AcceleGlove, and currently it is able to translate 200 signs.
The reason I contacted you is not because I need some help on my astrophysics, (your books do that for me!) is because I recognize how effectively you use technology to communicate.
Receiving your new book, "On The Shoulders of Giants" just today, catalyzed an epiphany - I have been reading Newton's work, and his assertion that he was merely "standing on the shoulders of giants" struck a chord in me, and upon receiving your book, it simply *clicked.* I am standing on the shoulders of giants, I would never get where I want to reach in order to help my people if not for all the work done by humans for thousands of years.
My epiphany? I realized that you must have quite a few extra aged speech synthesizers lying around. It would mean very much if you might somehow let me "borrow" or obtain one of these modern marvels. It would enable us to quickly move ahead without having to wait a year for the next round of grant proposals. I would find good use for one with an American accent! ;-)
In closure, if you are quite interested (hopefully), I think you might like reading this passage that I wrote about you a while ago on my website- http://www.jasonlamberton.com/ME.htm down in "My Heroes" list.
I look forward to the future! Thank you, Sir!
Jason Lamberton
Postscript: I just happened across the note on your website regarding "The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe" and isn’t it fateful that that very book is on its way from me from Barnes and Noble.com? You did not endorse it, I want nothing to do with a book that I now perceive as soul-less. What do you suggest me do with it? Send it to you? Burn it as a historical demonstration of medieval practices? It could double as a demonstration of E=mc2: show how much energy it takes to convert some matter, say, your illegitimate book, into light (minus the solid by-products of smoke and ash). The center of my university's Mall is a good location...
***
Hello Dr. Hawking,I want to first say that it is a great honor to be able to directly send you a message, in this age. This feels somewhat like the 19th century, where a regular citizen like myself could walk up to the President for a chat during his daily walks outside the White House, though, being deaf, I probably could not do that without modern technology. I realize that your time is very precious (however illusory it is), so I will keep this brief.
I am a doctoral candidate in Computer Science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I teach (despite my youthfulness) developmental mathematics at Gallaudet University as a means to support myself and to sustain my research. My research, which is just beginning, will deal with technologies that augments the communications and aural gap that deaf people routinely face on a daily basis. Right now, I am working on a project that uses a glove to electronically recognize the hand movements of sign language and translates it into voice. I have an especially high stake in this research, because it will enable me to communicate to any hearing person without relying on a paper and pen. I am working under Dr. Jose-Hernandez-Rebollar, the inventor of the AcceleGlove, and currently it is able to translate 200 signs.
The reason I contacted you is not because I need some help on my astrophysics, (your books do that for me!) is because I recognize how effectively you use technology to communicate.
Receiving your new book, "On The Shoulders of Giants" just today, catalyzed an epiphany - I have been reading Newton's work, and his assertion that he was merely "standing on the shoulders of giants" struck a chord in me, and upon receiving your book, it simply *clicked.* I am standing on the shoulders of giants, I would never get where I want to reach in order to help my people if not for all the work done by humans for thousands of years.
My epiphany? I realized that you must have quite a few extra aged speech synthesizers lying around. It would mean very much if you might somehow let me "borrow" or obtain one of these modern marvels. It would enable us to quickly move ahead without having to wait a year for the next round of grant proposals. I would find good use for one with an American accent! ;-)
In closure, if you are quite interested (hopefully), I think you might like reading this passage that I wrote about you a while ago on my website- http://www.jasonlamberton.com/ME.htm down in "My Heroes" list.
I look forward to the future! Thank you, Sir!
Jason Lamberton
Postscript: I just happened across the note on your website regarding "The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe" and isn’t it fateful that that very book is on its way from me from Barnes and Noble.com? You did not endorse it, I want nothing to do with a book that I now perceive as soul-less. What do you suggest me do with it? Send it to you? Burn it as a historical demonstration of medieval practices? It could double as a demonstration of E=mc2: show how much energy it takes to convert some matter, say, your illegitimate book, into light (minus the solid by-products of smoke and ash). The center of my university's Mall is a good location...
1 Comments:
Cool letter!! Yup, I love Stephen Hawking; have two books by him. Didn't know he releases a new book, will check it out! I believe he has lost a bet with some astrophysicist on the theory of how universe was born, something like that.
Wanna let you know that I revamped my website. It's up and running. Let's blog away!
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