Stephen Hawking

1942 – 2018

Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist who held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge from 1979 to 2009 and produced foundational work on black holes, including the 1974 prediction of the thermal radiation now known as Hawking radiation. His 1988 popular science book A Brief History of Time has sold more than 25 million copies and made cosmology accessible to mass audiences worldwide. Diagnosed with motor neurone disease at age 21 and given a few years to live, he continued to publish and lecture for more than five decades.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM