Stephen Hawking was born exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo in Oxford, England.
He was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, renowned for his work on black holes. He ran the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his 21st birthday. In spite of being wheelchair bound and dependent on a computerized voice system for communication, Stephen Hawking continued to combine family life (he has three children and three grandchildren) and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive program of travel and public lectures. His hope was to make it into space one day.
The award-winning film The Theory of Everything was based on his first wife's memoirs of her life with Hawking. Professor Hawking has also appeared in The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory.
