After the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2013, almost five decades after British physicist Peter Higgs developed the theory in the 1960s, Prof Hawking admitted he was disappointed the so-called "God particle" had been found.

The discovery earned Prof Higgs the Nobel Prize.

The Higgs boson is theorised to give other particles mass, but Prof Hawking said in a speech at London's Science Museum: "Physics would be far more interesting if it had not been found," because it would force scientists to develop alternative solutions to the problem of mass.

He joked: "I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found. The Nobel Prize cost me 100 dollars."

Unafraid of ruffling the feathers of the religious

Hawking was an outspoken commentator on life back on earth, voicing his disapproval in recent years of both the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

He was unafraid of ruffling the feathers of the religious, dismissing the concept of an afterlife in a 2011 Guardian interview.

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said at the time.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he added.

He was also outspoken when it came to artificial intelligence, warning it "could spell the end of the human race.''

MND: The disease that kills a third of people in a year - Prof Hawking survived for half a century

Professor Hawking overcame a debilitating rare disease to become one of the world's best known physicists.

He survived for around half a century after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), despite being told he had just years to live when he was diagnosed.

The disease kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis, according to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Yet Prof Hawking was diagnosed with the condition in his early 20s and lived until he was 76. The condition is fatal, and usually progresses rapidly, affecting the brain and spinal cord.

MND is the collective name for a group of diseases that affect the nerves in the brain and spinal cord that control movement.

The condition progressively damages parts of the nervous system which leads to muscle weakness, stiffening and waste.