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Agencies

Professor Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralysed by disease, has died aged 76.
In a statement Professor Hawking’s children, Lucy, Robert and Tim said: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. 
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. 
“His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. 
“He once said: ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.” 
Hawking suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and was confined to an electric wheelchair for much of his adult life. 


Diagnosed at age 21, he was one of the world’s longest survivors of ALS.
A Cambridge University professor, Hawking redefined cosmology by proposing that black holes emit radiation and later evaporate. 
He also showed that the universe had a beginning by describing how Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity eventually breaks down when time and space are traced back to the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago.
A Brief History of Time, first published in 1988, earned its author worldwide acclaim, selling at least 10 million copies in 40 languages and staying on the bestseller list of the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper for a record 237 weeks.

Often referred to as “one of the most unread books of all time” for the hard-to-grasp concepts, it included only one equation: E = mc2 or the equivalence of mass and energy, deduced by Einstein from his theory of special relativity. 
The book outlined the basics of cosmology for the general reader.


Hawking’s fame increased as his health worsened. After his degenerative muscle disorder was diagnosed, he defied medical opinion by living five decades longer than expected. 
He communicated his ideas through an American-accented speech synthesiser after a life-saving tracheotomy in 1985 took away his ability to speak. 
To the layman, the robot-like voice only seemed to give his words added authority.

“To my colleagues, I’m just another physicist, but to the wider public, I became possibly the best-known scientist in the world,” Hawking wrote in his 2013 memoir My Brief History. 
“This is partly because scientists, apart from Einstein, are not widely known rock stars, and partly because I fit the stereotype of a disabled genius.”
Here are 11 great quotes from Stephen Hawking
Hawking had a cult following in mainland China and Hong Kong, where he visited in 2006.
In a public Q&A session in Beijing he was asked: “What things in China do you like?”
“I like Chinese culture very much and Chinese food as well,” he responded.
“But I like Chinese women the most. They are very pretty.”

Chinese are very clever and they are hardworking
Stephen Hawking
Another person asked: “This is your third visit to China, why do you like to come to China?”
“Chinese are very clever and they are hardworking,” he said.
“They are intelligent and there have achieved a lot in science and technology.”
He was also asked if he would like to visit Tibet.
“I have always wanted to visit Tibet since I was little. But I don’t think I can do that in my lifetime. Tibet altitude is too high for me.”
Beam me up to Hong Kong – Stephen Hawking calls in for a chat
Hawking applied quantum theory – governing the subatomic world – to black holes, which he claimed discharge radiation that causes them to disappear. This process helps explain the notion that black holes have existed at a micro level since the Big Bang, and the smaller they are, the faster they evaporate.
The Nobel Prize in Physics proved elusive for Hawking, whose theories required observational data to win the praise of the awarding committee in Stockholm. The Nobel Foundation excludes posthumous nominees.

“By any reasonable standard, Stephen Hawking is a great scientist. Even if time shows some of his more radical proposals to be incorrect, Hawking will have had a profound impact on the history of science,” Henry F. Schaefer III, a chemistry professor at the University of Georgia, said in a 2001 lecture.
Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after the death of Italian physicist Galileo Galilei. 
Stephen Hawking in popular culture: from The Simpsons to Star Trek and Pink Floyd
Hawking’s father, Frank, was a doctor of tropical medicine. His mother, Isobel, was a tax inspector and a secretary. He had two younger sisters and a brother.
At age 8, Hawking moved with his family to St. Albans, where he went to school. He then graduated with first-class honours in natural science at Oxford’s University College. While he was a doctoral candidate at Cambridge, Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, also known as motor neuron disease. He was told he had only a few years to live.

As the illness progressed slower than expected and he found inspiration in his girlfriend, Jane Wilde, Hawking began to work at his studies for the first time. He completed his doctorate on the origins of the universe, became a research fellow at Caius College and married Wilde in 1965.
In 2015, Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in The Theory of Everything, a film about the scientist’s life.
Hawking separated from his wife in 1991 and married his nurse, Elaine Mason, four years later. They divorced in 2007.
By 2017 Hawking was spending more time pondering humanity’s future and concluding that we should plan to colonise other planets. 
“We are running out of space, and the only place we can go to are other worlds,” he told a gathering of scientists. 
“It is time to explore other solar systems. Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth.”
Timeline of Stephen Hawking’s life
January 8, 1942: Born in Oxford, England, the eldest of four children born to Frank Hawking, a biologist, and Isobel Hawking, a medical research secretary.
1952: Attends St. Albans School.
1959: Receives scholarship to attend University College, Oxford, from which he graduates with a degree in Natural Science.
1962: Begins graduate research in cosmology at Cambridge University.
1963: Diagnosed with the degenerative nerve disorder ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, at the age of 21. He is given two years to live.
July 14, 1965: Marries his first wife, Jane Wilde, a modern languages student he met at Cambridge.
1967: The couple’s first son, Robert, is born.
1970: Jane gives birth to a daughter, Lucy.
1974:  Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society at age 32, one of the youngest people to receive the honor.
1979: Becomes Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a prestigious position once held by Isaac Newton. Hawking holds the post until 2009. Jane gives birth to a third child, Timothy.
1985:  Admitted to a hospital in Geneva with pneumonia. He survives after an operation, but loses what remained of his speech. The next year he begins communicating through the electronic voice synthesiser that gave him his trademark robotic “voice”.
1988: Publishes A Brief History of Time, a book on cosmology aimed at the general public that becomes an instant best-seller.
1989: Made a Companion of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II.
1995: Marries his nurse, Elaine Mason.
2007: Divorces Elaine Mason.
2014: Hawking’s life is celebrated in the Oscar-winning biopic The Theory of Everything, based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking.
Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press


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Stephen Hawking

Professor Stephen Hawking, scientist and cultural icon, dead at 76

Stephen Hawking was Britain’s most famous modern day scientist, a genius who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe

(FILES) This file picture taken on June 13, 2006 shows British theoretical physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking attending a press conference and tree planting ceremony at the Hong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) accompanied by Paul Ching-wu Chu president of the HKUST in Hong Kong. Renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking entered the universe of Chinese social media with a big bang on April 12, 2016, with his first post to the country's Twitter-like Weibo service garnering him more than a million followers the same day. / AFP PHOTO / MIKE CLARKE

FILE PHOTO: Stephen Hawking and his new bride Elaine Mason pose for pictures after the blessing of their wedding at St. Barnabus Church September 16, 1995. REUTERS/Russell Boyce/File Photo

Chinese youth listen to Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking speak at an international gathering of scientists on the origins of the universe at Beijing's Great Hall of the People Monday, June 19, 2006. Hawking was in Beijing to attend the "Strings 2006" conference on the riddle of string theory which, if solved, could help unlock the mysteries of black holes and the creation of the universe. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

FILE PHOTO: Pope Benedict XVI (R) greets British professor Stephen Hawking during a meeting of science academics at the Vatican October 31, 2008. REUTERS/Osservatore Romano/File Photo

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 26, 2007 and released by Zero G, British cosmologist Stephen Hawking experiences zero gravity during a flight over the Atlantic Ocean. "It was amazing ... I could have gone on and on," Hawking, 65, said after riding for two hours on a modified jet that flew a rollercoaster trajectory to create the impression of microgravity. Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking has died at age 76, a family spokesman said Wednesday, March 14, 2018. We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today," professor Hawking's children, Lucy, Robert, and Tim said in a statement carried by Britain's Press Association news agency. "He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years." / AFP PHOTO / ZERO G / ZERO G

British scientist and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has reportedly died at the age of 76. Photo: Edward Wong

A glimpse into Hawking's universe of possibilities

Beam me up to Hong Kong – Stephen Hawking calls in for a chat

An evening with Stephen Hawking at Hong Kong Science Park in Tai Po. Photo: Edward Wong

'There is no bigger question': Stephen Hawking endorses ambitious new bid to find alien life

Professor Stephen Hawking. Photo: Reuters

A giant leap for mankind... to Alpha Centauri: Stephen Hawking announces plan to send laser-powered probes to star system 4.3 light years away

An artist impression of a planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system is the closest to Earth. Photo: AFP

epa05255309 Russian people take the underground in front of a portrait of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, in a themed Moscow Metro train marking the 55th anniversary of Yury Gagarin's epic space flight and Cosmonaut Day in Moscow, Russia, 12 April 2016. Moscow Metro in conjunction with the Russian Space Agency launched the 'cosmic' train, which is decorated with images of the starry sky, planets and comic ships. Russia is celebrating Cosmonaut Day marking 55 anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering flight into space on 12 April 1961. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking poses for a picture ahead of a gala screening of the documentary 'Hawking', a film about the scientist's life, at the opening night of the Cambridge Film Festival in Cambridge, eastern England on September 19, 2013. Hawking tells the extraordinary tale of how he overcame severe disability to become the most famous living scientist in a new documentary film premiered in Britain. AFP PHOTO / ANDREW COWIE

Digital Sky Technologies CEO Yuri Milner attends the eG8 forum in Paris May 25, 2011. The eG8 forum gathers "leaders of the Internet" to consider and discuss the future of the Internet and society. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes (FRANCE - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS SCI TECH HEADSHOT)

Tibetan nomads share a motorcycle while riding along a highway some 250 km southwest of Xining on the road to Lajiasi, or Ra'gyagoinba in Tibetan, on March 9, 2009 in northwest China's Qinghai province, a vast region on the Tibetan plateau known as Amdo. Tibetans in northwest China have described their constant fear of Chinese authorities amid what they say is ongoing discrimination and the erosion of their freedoms after riots against Chinese rule erupted on March 14 last year in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, after four days of peaceful protests to mark the 49th anniversary of the uprising, as unrest spread to nearby provinces such as Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu. AFP PHOTO/ Frederic J. BROWN

No Caption Available.

Stephen Hawking lauds Chinese pop star Wang Junkai

Wang Junkai (centre), leader singer of the wildly popular TFBOYS, posted a video on his Weibo account asking Stephen Hawking how humanity should prepare for interstellar migration.

British scientist and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking attends a launch event for a new award for science communication, called the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, in London, Britain in this December 16, 2015 file photo. Hawking has joined more than 150 top scientists in calling for Britain to stay in the European Union, saying that leaving would be "a disaster for UK science and universities". REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

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Stephen Hawking was Britain’s most famous modern day scientist, a genius who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe


Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking, whose mental genius and physical disability made him a household name and inspiration across the globe, has died.


Obituaries

Professor Stephen Hawking, scientist and cultural icon, dead at 76

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Stephen Hawking was Britain’s most famous modern day scientist, a genius who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe

Stephen Hawking was Britain’s most famous modern day scientist, a genius who dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe