Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942, in Oxford, England, He was an English Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who, at the time of his death, was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

At the age of 17, he began his university education at University College, Oxford, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics. In October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge where, in March 1966, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specializing in general relativity and cosmology.

Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. He was ranked number 25 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died in 2018 at the age of 76, after living with motor neuron disease for more than 50 years.