🇬🇧 Stephen Hawking — the mind that explored the universe

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) was one of the greatest physicists of our time — and today marks his birthday 🎂✨

Born in Oxford on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after Galileo’s death, Hawking showed early brilliance but didn’t stand out as a prodigy at school. He studied physics at Oxford and later cosmology at Cambridge, where his life changed dramatically.

At just 21, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a motor neuron disease. Doctors gave him only a few years to live. Instead, Hawking went on to defy expectations for more than five decades, transforming both science and public understanding of the universe.

Despite being almost completely paralyzed and communicating through a speech-generating device, Hawking:

🔹 revolutionized our understanding of black holes, showing they emit radiation — now known as Hawking radiation;

🔹 made complex cosmology accessible through A Brief History of Time, one of the best-selling science books ever;

🔹 served for decades as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Isaac Newton;

🔹 became a global cultural icon — his life and work were portrayed in The Theory of Everything (2014), with Eddie Redmayne winning an Oscar for his performance as Hawking.

Hawking wasn’t just a scientist — he was a symbol of human curiosity and resilience. He once said:

“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

His legacy continues to inspire millions to look up at the stars and ask the biggest questions.

#hall_of_fame@level_APO

📝 СПбГУ Olympiad: Task 4 📝

📋 You are given a story told in pictures (usually by Herluf Bidstrup). Basically, you need to transform the story from pictures to words — the plot is already given.

The criteria include:
• Содержание (3 points). You need to fully answer the question and do it creatively.
• Организация текста (2 points). The text is well-organized. A title / specific number of paragraphs are NOT necessary — just make sure what you have matches the logic of the text.
• Языковое оформление (5 points). Grammar and vocabulary, punctuation and spelling mistakes are added up. To get the maximum points, you can make 1 grammar / vocabulary mistake or 1 spelling / punctuation mistake.

Here are two 10/10 examples from last year’s Olympiad.
In the first one, there is a title. The story is divided into 2 paragraphs. By contrast, the second one has no title, and all the direct speech is in separate paragraphs. The stories have a similar plot because they describe the same picture. Note the use of direct speech in both stories. Both stories have minor spelling mistakes.

A Fateful Meeting
One day an old lonely man bought himself a dog and wanted to teach him some helpful tricks. As he had problems with his back, he wanted his dog to lift his walking stick every time he unintentionally dropped it and give it to him. At first, the dog didn't understand what his owner wanted from him and onlylooked at him with its eyes full of sorrow. After a multitude of attempts, the man just grabbed the dog and put the stick into its mouth. The dog sat and lifted its head to see the man's eyes. He took the stick from the dog and gave it a tasty bone.
A few day passed. The man was sitting in a chair in his garden and reading a book when he heard someone shouting, "Give me my umbrella and do it fast!" A few moments later his dog was standing near him with a full mouth of umbrellas and walking sticks. And quite a few people were standing outside the gate with angry faces. The man quickly returned all the sticks andumbrellas to their owners and promised to teach his dog better. "Don't worry about it," one woman said, "I will be happy to see this cute little dog one more time." The man looked at her with a smile on his face.

Uncle Jack's retirement began with a gift from his beloved daughter - a puppy, meant for entertaining and serving the old man. The problems started from the very beginning though.
"Up!"
No reaction.
"Up!"
No reaction.
Uncle Jack was on the verge of kicking this creature out of his backyard! Bailey looked up at his owner with doe eyes and whined confused. Jack gave in and tried the carrot and stick approach, giving Bailey a bone each time he lifted up the wooden stick. Jack had been injured at work, therefore couldn't walk normally without support. Hooray! Bailey finally wrapped his furry head around the command and could perform it succesfully! Not to mention this was the only command he could perform. Months went by quite peacefully until this morning. Jack, as usually, let Bailey out for a walk in their neighbourhood. Someone's children were playing marbles in the sandbox, constantly repeating "Up!" or "Down!" whenidentifying each others' number of balls. That was a huge mistake. Bailey reacted to every word and collected all sticks he saw. Followed by a crowd of disturbed by-passers, Bailey brought the sticks to Jack.
"A bone for each, I guess..." murmured poor Jack.

🔥 If you want to prepare for the СПбГУ Olympiad, sign up for our intensive class taking place on 24–25.01 🔥

Would you like to learn more about other Перечневые tasks? Press ❤️‍🔥 then!

#final_countdown@level_APO

Stalwart
adjective
🇬🇧 /ˈstɔːl.wət/
🇺🇸 /ˈstɑːl.wɚt/

: loyal, especially for a long time; able to be trusted

Now I was afraid this incident might turn my only stalwart supporter against me.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

Synonyms: committed, devoted, faithful
Antonym: disloyal

Adverb: stalwartly
Noun: stalwartness

#word_finds@level_APO