Introduction

One of the world’s finest scientific minds Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease in 1964 at the age of 22. It was expected to take him in just a few years but he lived far more than that and stayed strong for 50 more years to come continuing to reveal the universe’s darkest secrets and becoming a medical miracle at the same time.

His Life

Stephen Hawking with his wife Jane Wilde

He married his college sweetheart, Jane Wilde, in 1965. She first set her eyes on him in 1962, lolloping down the street in St Albans, his face down, covered by an unruly group of brown hairs. In 1990 after 26 years of marriage and three children together they were divorced.

The illness left him in a wheelchair and largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesizer.

Stephen and his Children

His Work

Prof. Hawking was the first to set out the theory of cosmology as a union of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Hawking’s Theory

In 1974 Hawking introduced the quantum theory to declare that black holes emit heat and eventually decease from existence. While normal-sized black holes, the process is very slow, but smaller black holes would release heat at a very fast rate and finally exploding with the energy of millions of hydrogen bombs of one megaton.

He told the Guardian in 2011 “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I am not afraid of death, but I am in a hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first”.

Through his work mathematician, Sir Roger Penrose demonstrated that Einstein’s theory of relativity implies space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes.

He also appeared in many TV shows including The Simpsons, Red Dwarf and The Big Bang Theory. He was present in both TV Shows and films.

His Death

The Cambridge Professor Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76, he died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday, his family said ‘ We will miss him forever’.

Tributes

The actor paid tribute to him, “We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet”.

Benedict Cumberbatch said, “A true inspiration for me or for millions around the world”.

Prof James Hartle said, “Prof Hawking had a unique ability to see through all the clutter in physics”.

Prof Stephen Toope said, “Unique individual who would be remembered with warmth and affection”.

Apple’s Co-Founder Steve Wozniak said, “Stephen Hawking’s integrity and scientific dedication places him above pure brilliance”.