Stephen William Hawking  (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was a British theoretical physicist and mathematician. He was born in Oxford. In 1950, he moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was one of the world's leading theoretical physicists. Hawking has written many science books for people who are not scientists.

Hawking was a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge (a position that Isaac Newton once had). He retired on 1 October 2009.

Hawking had a motor neurone disease related to his dyslexia, and because of that he could not move or talk very well. The illness worsened over the years and he was almost completely paralysed. He used a wheelchair to move, and an Intel computer to talk for him. He died on 14 March 2018.

Early life and education 
Hawking went to St Albans School, a local public school in Hertfordshire. At 17, he passed an exam to study at Oxford. He studied physics and chemistry there. Because he found it really easy at the beginning, he didn't study a lot for the final exams.

In October 1962 he started his graduate course at Trinity Hall. It was at this time that his illness started to show up. He had difficulties in rowing and then even simply in walking. However, he finished his PhD and wrote about black holes in his thesis. He then got a fellowship (a job as a university teacher) at Gonville and Caius College in 1965.

Career 
Hawking was a cosmologist—someone who studies the structure of the universe (stars and space). He invented important theories about the Big Bang (the start of the universe), black holes and how they work.

Stephen Hawking predicted that black holes eject some radiation (energy), even though they normally swallow everything.  That kind of radiation is named "Hawking Radiation."

Hawking also worked on the problem of quantum gravity.  Quantum gravity tries to explain how gravity works with quantum mechanics (physics of tiny things.)  That is a hard problem that scientists have not solved yet.

Hawking also wrote popular books about science for non-scientists.  His first book, A Brief History of Time, sold over ten million copies. Hawking had many other jobs as well. He was an Actor, Mathematician, etc. More info on the official site

Death
Hawking died on 14 March 2018 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire of complications from motor neuron disease at the age of 76. His ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey in London near Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.

Selected publications

Technical 
 Singularities in Collapsing Stars and Expanding Universes, with D.W. Sciama, 1969. Comments on Astrophysics and Space Physics. Vol 1
 
 
 
 Information Loss in Black Holes, Cambridge University Press, 2005

Popular 

 
 
 
 On The Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy, Running Press 2002.

Children's books 
 George's Secret Key to the Universe, with Lucy Hawking. Simon & Taylor Blevins Publishing.
 George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt, with Lucy Hawking. Simon & Taylor Blevins Publishing.
 George and the Big Bang, with Lucy Hawking. Simon & Taylor Blevins Publishing.

Related pages
 List of astrophysicists

Notes 

1942 births
2018 deaths
Deaths from motor neurone disease
Disease-related deaths in the United Kingdom
People buried in Westminster Abbey
British astrophysicists
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Companions of Honour
English mathematicians
English physicists
English science writers
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Oxford
Royal Society of Arts
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
British theoretical physicists
Writers from Hertfordshire
Writers from Oxfordshire