Stephen Hawking

Who they were

Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world.

Early life

Born January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England, Hawking studied physics at University College, Oxford. He began his doctoral research in cosmology at Cambridge in 1962, shortly before his ALS diagnosis at age 21.

Path and career

Hawking became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge in 1979, a position he held until 2009. His groundbreaking 1974 discovery that black holes emit radiation (Hawking radiation) revolutionized theoretical physics.

He authored the bestselling book *A Brief History of Time* (1988), which introduced cosmology to millions of readers worldwide. Despite progressive paralysis requiring a speech synthesizer from the 1980s onward, he continued research and public engagement until his death.

Why this date

Stephen Hawking appears on our March 14 calendar for 2018 as a death entry.