Indians helped hawking get his voice - Fusion - WeRIndia

Stephen Hawking is considered by many to be one of the smartest men who ever lived.

Born on January 9th, 1942, Hawking achieved numerous scientific accomplishments, including the publication of his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time.

Tragically diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) when he was only 21 years old, he was given two years to live, but instead lived for another fifty-five.

He has only just died on March 14th, 2018, at the age of 76. Not only was Hawking known for his incredible accomplishments in science, but he was also known for his resilience through his disability, being able to move around in a wheelchair and using technology to help him write and speak.

As technology advanced over the course of Hawking’s life, his initial communication software became outdated and started giving him trouble.

However, since this problem occurred when he was touring Mumbai for the first time, his voice was brought back by two Indian scientists.

Hawking had arrived in India for the first time in his life in January of 2001, and when he started facing problems with his communication software, his aides reached out to people who might be able to write him a new software program.

Two Indian engineers, Arun Mehta and Vickram Crishna, decided to take up the job. Crishna had met Hawking in Mumbai, finding him to be a warm and fun-loving person who simply needed some serious help.

He partnered up with Mehta to create Elocutor, a software that completely fulfills the writing and speaking needs of people with disabilities like ALS.

Elocutor works on a prediction model, attempting to anticipate what a user will type next.

The software also learns from what the user has typed before in the past. Therefore, Hawking could fully type and speak while only having to use a single button to do it.

Although Hawking may now have passed on, Mehta and Crishna are still here, and they are working to make technological solutions like Elocutor available for the people who need them, especially people who do not have much access to technology.

 

Image Reference: Thebetterindia