Stephen Hawking (actor)

Stephen Hawking was a noted scientist who formerly held the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University in England. Diagnosed at age 22 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Motor Neurone Disease and Lou Gehrig's Disease), he used a wheelchair for the majority of his life, and communicated by means of an electronic vocal synthesizer. He was famous for formulating several theories regarding the nature of black holes, often working with colleague Kip Thorne, and for his best-selling science books including A Brief History of Time.
Hawking is the only person, to date, to have played himself on Star Trek (excluding historical people who have appeared via stock footage), appearing as his own holographic counterpart in the sixth season episode in . While filming the episode, Hawking was taken on a tour of the engineering set; indicating the warp core, he said, "I'm working on that." () On a subsequent visit to the set, he passed by actor Brent Spiner and asked where his money was from winning the hand of poker. Spiner replied that the check was in the mail. Hawking was interviewed on when he filmed his Trek appearance. This interview was part of the TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Six" – "Descent – Part 1 Featuring Stephen Hawking".
Hawking visited the set during the filming of . In the , Armin Shimerman describes meeting Dr. Hawking as one of the high points of his life.
Hawking also played himself on Futurama, The Simpsons, and The Big Bang Theory, and appeared in documentaries about Red Dwarf and Doctor Who. In 2010 he co-authored The Grand Design with former Star Trek: The Next Generation story editor and writer of the episode , Leonard Mlodinow.
In later life, Hawking, along with Elon Musk, became one of the leading voices leveled against the unchecked development of real world artificial intelligence (AI), warning it could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization," if creators and developers do not "employ [the] best practice and effective management" as humanly and technologically possible. 
File:Stephen Hawking interviewed on set.jpg|Hawking being interviewed on set
File:Hawking Engineering Set.jpg|On the Enterprise engineering set
File:Einstein Hawking Newton.jpg|With "Einstein" and "Newton"
File:Berman and Hawking.jpg|With Rick Berman filming "Descent"
File:Descent Poker BTS.jpg|Filming the poker scene
File:Brent Spiner and Stephen Hawking.jpg|With Brent Spiner
File:Stephen Hawking on the DS9 set.jpg|With Armin Shimerman and Carlos Carrasco
File:Hawking Berman House of Quark.jpg|With Rick Berman during "The House of Quark"
Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Hawking in the 2004 television movie Hawking, which also featured Alice Eve.
Hawking's voice was featured on two songs by : "Keep Talking", from the 1994 album The Division Bell, and "Talkin' Hawkin'", from the 2014 album The Endless River. 
Hawking passed away at his home in Cambridge on 14 March 2018. His name was added to a memorial list in Star Trek Online. 
== External links ==
* – official site
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Category:Performers
Category:TNG performers