Stephen William Hawking

The time of his death, was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

Between 1979 and 2009 he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge Hawking was born in Oxford, into a family of physicians. In October 1959

In October 1962 he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where in March 1966 he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics

In 1963 Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS, for short) that gradually, over the decades, paralysed him

After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle

Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity 

Often called Hawking radiation. Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s and following the publication of further research

The discovery was widely accepted as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity