Those discussions stimulated the young Hawking to pursue his own scientific vision. Hoyle’s fame meant that he was seldom in the department, whereas Sciama was around and eager to talk. Meanwhile, his engagement to Jane Wilde – with whom he later had three children, Robert, Lucy and Tim – renewed his drive to make real progress in physics. Two years into his PhD, he was having trouble walking and talking, but it was clear that the disease was progressing more slowly than the doctors had initially feared. He was told he had two years to live.Īlthough Hawking’s body may have weakened, his intellect stayed sharp. In the same year, Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative motor neurone disease that quickly robs people of the ability to voluntarily move their muscles. Instead, he was to work with Dennis Sciama, a physicist Hawking knew nothing about. The most famous British astrophysicist at the time, Hoyle was a magnet for the more ambitious students. Arriving at the University of Cambridge in 1962 to begin his PhD, he was told that Fred Hoyle, his chosen supervisor, already had a full complement of students. Hawking’s research career began with disappointment. That’s a shame for the man who discovered what might prove to be the key clue to the theory of everything, advanced our understanding of space and time, helped shape the course of physics for the last four decades and whose insight continues to drive progress in fundamental physics today. He had an endearing sense of humour and a daredevil attitude – relatable human traits that, combined with his seemingly superhuman mind, made Hawking eminently marketable.īut his cultural status – amplified by his disability and the media storm it invoked – often overshadowed his scientific legacy. ![]() He was routinely consulted for oracular pronouncements on everything from time travel and alien life to Middle Eastern politics and nefarious robots. His early life was the subject of an Oscar-winning performance by Eddie Redmayne in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. ![]() He appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory. His genre-defining book, A Brief History of Time, has sold more than 10 million copies since its publication in 1988, and has been translated into more than 35 languages. The most recognisable scientist of our age, Hawking holds an iconic status. ![]() Stephen Hawking dies aged 76 Tributes flow in following the death of world-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking
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