Stephen Hawking: A life in pictures
- Published
Stephen Hawking, who was born in 1942, studied physics in Oxford and later went on to Cambridge for his postgraduate research in cosmology.
At the age of 22, he was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease. As he was preparing to marry his first wife Jane (pictured), doctors predicted he did not have long to live. They were married for 26 years and went on to have three children together.
He used a wheelchair and was largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesiser. Hawking shot to fame with his 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which sold over 10 million copies.
The physicist appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1992 with Sue Lawley. His chosen luxury was crème brûlée
Hawking later went on to marry one of his nurses, Elaine Mason, in 1995. They were married for 11 years before they divorced.
In 2004, Benedict Cumberbatch became the first actor to portray the physicist on screen. The BBC TV film, Hawking, was critically acclaimed.
The world-famous physicist often delivered lectures at universities around the world, like this one he gave at the George Washington University in 2008.
Hawking met many famous world figures, including Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in 2008
He won many awards in the fields of mathematics and science and in 2009, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-US President Barack Obama.
He also went on to meet Queen Elizabeth in 2014 during a charity event at St James' Palace.
His life story was made into a 2014 film, The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne who is pictured here with Hawking.
In 2017, Hawking spoke to an audience in Hong Kong by hologram, beamed live from his office in Cambridge. After his death, his children said his legacy would "live on for many years".
- Published14 March 2018
- Published14 March 2018
- Published28 October 2017
- Published14 March 2018
