Professor Stephen Hawking, considered one of the most intelligent men the world has ever known, died at his home in Cambridge early this morning.

The family confirmed his death.
His children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today.
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years to come.
“His courage and perseverance, with his brilliance and humor, inspired people around the world.
"He once said, 'It wouldn't be much of a universe if it weren't home to the people you love.' We will miss him forever."


Mr. Hawking in Princeton, New Jersey, October 10, 1979


Mr Hawking with his daughter Lucy, son Robert and first wife Jane

Professor Hawking often said that he was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. He died on the 139th anniversary of the birth of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and on Pi Day, which celebrates the mathematical constant pi.

Mr Hawking, nicknamed "Einstein" as a student, spent much of his life in a wheelchair, unable to speak or move, after being struck down by illness at the age of 21.

His sharp mind changed the way people understand the universe with his breakthrough theory that radiation comes from black holes, and he served as an inspiration to millions.

His rise to fame and his troubled life have been well documented in last years with the Hollywood film The Theory of Everything depicting his early years.


Dr Frank Hawking holding his infant son Stephen in 1942


Stephen as a child with his sister Mary


Stephen Hawking with his sisters Mary and Phillipa


Little Stephen Hawking with his Aunt Muriel

Millions of people from around the world express their condolences over the death of Stephen Hawking.

American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who won the last Stephen Hawking Medal in Science and Communication, tweeted: “His passing leaves behind an intellectual vacuum, but it is not empty. Think of it as some kind of vacuum energy. Stephen Hawking, RIP 1942-2018. "


Born in London, Mr Hawking grew up in Oxford and St Albans


Mr Hawking Schoolboy


Mr Hawking at his Oxford graduation

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, tweeted: “We have lost a colossal mind and a beautiful spirit. Rest in peace, Stephen Hawking."

Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge, where Mr Hawking was a colleague at Gonville and Caius College, said: “Professor Hawking was a unique man who will be remembered with warmth and affection not only in Cambridge but throughout the world.

"His exceptional contribution to scientific knowledge and the popularization of science and mathematics have left a lasting legacy.

“His character was an inspiration to millions of people and he will be greatly missed.”


The Queen meets Mr Hawking at the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity event in May 2014


Mr Hawking s former president South Africa Nelson Mandela in May 2008


Mr Hawking with Challenge University head Jeremy Paxman and the winning team in 2016


Professor Hawking will go down in history as one of the greatest thinkers of all time.

The world's most famous theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, who was planning to fly into space from a wheelchair, studied the nature of the Universe, and became a symbol of human determination and curiosity, died in Cambridge at the age of 76.

“The Table” recalls how Stephen Hawking surprised this world.

1. Life in spite of the diagnosis

English theoretical physicist Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 in Oxford into a poor family of medical workers. At school, he was not particularly keen on studying, but then he picked up his brain and slightly increased his average score. He was best at physics. By the end of school, he had gone from being an average student to being simply brilliant. Hawking wanted to go to Oxford and for this he definitely needed to get a scholarship, since his parents were not able to pay for his education at the university. And he passed entrance examination with amazingly high scores.

And Hawking became one of Oxford's brilliant students. He was even a member of the university rowing team - though not distinguished by powerful muscles, Stephen was the coxswain. He sat at the stern and gave orders to the rowers, setting the pace of the rowing.

He graduated from Oxford University in 1962 with a BA in mathematics and physics, then received a PhD from Trinity Hall College, Cambridge University.

Stephen Hawking, 1992

But a year later, Hawking's life went downhill - he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It is an incurable degenerative neuromuscular disease. According to doctors, he had about two years to live. However, he continued to work despite his progressive illness.

And he lived with ALS for almost 55 years.

In 1965, Stephen Hawking began studying scientific research at the University of Cambridge at Gonville and Keyes College. He worked at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, then at the Institute of Astronomy at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, taught the theory of gravity, and became a professor of gravitational physics.

In 1979, Stephen Hawking became Professor of Mathematics and Lucasian Professor at the University of Cambridge, a named professorship at the University of Cambridge, one of the most prestigious academic positions in the world, a position he held until 2009.

At the same time, the disease rapidly progressed, depriving Stephen of the ability to walk and move his muscles. For the last three decades, Stephen has been moving around in a special wheelchair, and speaks with the help of an artificial voice synthesizer - he lost his voice forever after pneumonia in 1985.

However, despite his severe disability, Hawking was married. And twice. From his first wife, Jane Wilde, three children were born: son Robert, daughter Lucy and son Timothy. When the physicist needed a permanent caregiver, he met Elaine Mason. Constantly living together brought Elaine and Stephen very close. The scientist divorced his first wife and married his nurse. After 11 years, Hawking will divorce Elaine. Hawking had no children from his second marriage.

Hawking with his first wife

Moreover, Hawking was able to do many things in his wheelchair that were inaccessible to ordinary people - for example, he experienced zero gravity. In 2007, Zero Gravity introduced the ability to soar using a plane that takes off sharply and dives. People inside can experience a state of weightlessness for about 25 seconds. Hawking was even able to do a somersault while freed from his wheelchair.

Hawking with his wife and children

2. Great “self-promoter”

Today, Stephen Hawking's net worth is about $20 million. However, when Hawking had to permanently sit in a wheelchair, he was content only with a modest salary as a teacher. And then he decided to earn money for nurses and medicine with the help of science - he decided to write books about the structure of the Universe.

In April 1988, Hawking published his best-selling book Short story time (From the Big Bang to black holes)" is a kind of textbook about the structure of the Universe, space and time "for dummies."

“My goal is very simple,” Hawking himself wrote in the preface. - I want to understand the Universe, why it is structured the way it is, and why we are here... If you think that the task of comprehending the laws of the universe is the lot of people with high IQ, then I will tell you that I have no idea what me IQ. Those who are interested in this are just losers..."

Since then, Hawking has written 17 books on cosmology, including such bestsellers as Black Holes and Young Universes and Other Essays (1993), The World in a Nutshell (2001), and The Grand Design and My Brief History. (2010). He also co-authored several books for children with his daughter Lucy Hawking. The most famous is the bestseller A Brief History of Time (1988). There are also lesser known ones: “George and the Secrets of the Universe” (2006) and “George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt” (2009).

Stephen William Hawking

Hawking writes in a very unique way: his glasses are equipped with an infrared motion sensor that monitors the movement of the scientist’s facial muscles - the only ones that were not destroyed by the disease. With their help, Stephen can select a specific area on the monitor and “click” on it. This is how Hawking types texts and speaks through a speech synthesizer, spelling words.

At the same time, as experts note, Hawking’s books are characterized by emotionality and immature judgments; many of his conclusions have been refuted by science. For example, last year the University of Cambridge posted on its website a dissertation on astrophysics written by Hawking 51 years ago. It turned out that the hypothesis that Hawking successfully defended has long been recognized as erroneous.

But Stephen had another gift: he was the best popularizer of science and a brilliant self-promoter: he last day He did not let humanity forget about himself - he regularly gave forecasts about the future, each one sadder than the other. For example, he recently predicted that global warming will make the climate on Earth as deadly as on Venus.

3. Hawking radiation

Hawking radiation is a hypothetical process of “evaporation” of black holes, that is, the emission of various elementary particles(mainly photons), which Hawking predicted. His work, by the way, was preceded by a visit to Moscow in 1973 and meetings with Soviet scientists Yakov Zeldovich and Alexei Starobinsky.

After this, Hawking wrote a fundamental paper entitled “Black Hole Explosions?”, published in the journal Nature in 1974.

“When a huge star contracts, its gravity becomes so strong that even light can no longer escape its confines,” Hawking wrote. — An area from which nothing can escape is called a “black hole.” And its boundaries are called the “event horizon.”

Stephen William Hawking speaking on Black Holes

This work was a turning point in the history of modern physics, which came due to the fact that Dr. Hawking decided to apply quantum theory to black holes. After lengthy and complex calculations, Hawking discovered to his amazement that black holes are like stars—they gradually fade over time, releasing radiation and particles, and finally explode and disappear. This stream of particles is called “Hawking radiation”.

Scientists today call his discovery the first important milestone in attempts to find a unified theory of nature and connect gravity with quantum mechanics, which explain the small and large in different ways, and also give an explanation of the Universe.

“You might ask, what would happen if someone jumped into a black hole? - wrote Hawking. “I don’t think he will survive such a jump.” If we send someone to jump into a black hole, neither they nor their constituent atoms will come back, but their mass energy will. Maybe this applies to the entire universe."

On the other hand, it was because of “black holes” that Hawking lost the “bet of the century” that he made with the American theoretical physicist John Preskill. Hawking stated that gravity " black hole"so powerful that all data about the original structure of matter disappears inside. Preskill did not agree with this conclusion, and only 30 years later Hawking admitted that his opponent was right.

4. The theory of the “Big Flattening”

Until the 20th century, it was believed that the Universe was eternal and unchanging. Hawking argued in very accessible language that this is not so. “Light from distant galaxies is shifted towards the red part of the spectrum,” he wrote. “This means that they are moving away from us, that the Universe is expanding.”

However, the expansion of the Universe suggests that it, at some point in the past, had a beginning. This moment when the Universe began to exist is called the Big Bang.

Stephen William Hawking

“It seemed to me that when the contraction began, the Universe would return to an ordered state,” Hawking wrote. - In this case, with the beginning of compression, time should have turned back. People in this stage would live their lives backwards and get younger as the Universe contracts - until the Universe ceases to exist at the moment of the “Big Flattening”. It will be like big Bang, only on the contrary..."

However, all attempts to create mathematical model theories were not successful. Hawking later admitted his mistake: time will not turn back when the Universe begins to contract, and the model of the Universe is not as simple as it seems to theoretical physicists. According to the scientist, all theories do not apply at the moment of the beginning and end of the Universe.

5. An atheist who understands the language of God

Everyone knows that Hawking is a convinced atheist - at least that’s what he called himself. However, when thinking about the nature of the Universe, he often admitted mutually exclusive theories.

Stephen Hawking Award in Italy

So, in one place, discussing the process of eternal entropy - expansion - of the Universe, he wrote: “You can see how a cup falls from the table and breaks. But you can’t see how it comes back together from the fragments. The increase in disorder - entropy - is precisely what distinguishes the past from the future and gives direction to time ... "

Elsewhere, he is confident that the cup may well assemble itself from the surrounding atoms: “Since there is such a force as gravity, the Universe could and did create itself out of nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason why the Universe exists, why we exist. There is no need for God to “light” the fire and make the Universe work..."

So will the cup itself be able to assemble itself from the fragments or not?

Hawking never found an answer to this question.

Only once did he notice that one of the consequences of the theory of quantum mechanics is that for certain physical processes some reasonable beginning is necessary. The hypothesis about the probabilistic nature of matter and energy says that events that happened in the past did not happen in any particular way. Instead, they happened in every possible way, but until there is an intelligent observer, everything will be "in a state of uncertainty as a spectrum of possibilities."

But who is this outside observer - man or God?

“The answer to this question will be the greatest triumph of the human mind, for then we will know the mind of God,” Hawking himself once remarked.

Often, next to a great man there is always a woman who influences his destiny. Such was the case with Stephen Hawking, who died today at the age of 76.

Despite serious disease- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Hawking was married twice. What kind of women were they and what role they played in the life of the physicist and popularizer of science - in our material.

Jane Wilde

Stephen and Jane met as students. The girl was far from science - she studied foreign literature, but Stephen’s bold ideas captivated her. In addition, Jane noted more than once in interviews that at first she was attracted by the scientist’s wide smile and big gray eyes

In his autobiography, My Brief History, Stephen wrote that meeting Jane helped him overcome his depression and gave him hope for the future when he learned of his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Jane knew about Stephen's diagnosis, but did not refuse his offer, deciding that they would cope. At the beginning of the marriage, Stephen's condition was such that they managed to work and travel a lot. And even give life to three children.

Nevertheless, the disease progressed, and Jane could no longer cope with so many roles: wife, mother of many children, professional nurse.

The woman began to experience depression, which marked the beginning of the collapse of her marriage to Hawking. At the same time, she meets the leader of the local church choir, Jonathan Jones. Jonathan helped Jane with household chores, and over time he became a family friend. The mutual sympathy between his wife and the choir director was obvious to Stephen himself. But, as he writes in his autobiographical book, it was impossible to condemn this relationship, since the doctors claimed that he did not have long to live. And it was necessary to think about who would take care of his wife and children after he left.

Despite the discord in the family, Jane essentially saved her husband. She made a fateful decision when his health condition deteriorated critically. He fell ill with pneumonia, and the doctors suggested that his wife disconnect Stephen from the machine artificially supporting his life.

Jane refused this offer, insisting on treatment and surgery. Stephen was saved, but after that it became very difficult to cope with his care. So the nurse Elaine Mason appeared in the house, who became the second wife of the genius.

Elaine Mason

In 1995, the Hawkings officially divorced: Stephen lets his ex-wife go to Jonathan, and he marries Elaine. Which, in turn, left her husband, with whom she lived for 15 years.

Information about the physicist’s second marriage is very contradictory. He himself describes this relationship in the book as “stormy and passionate.” At the same time, the ex-wife and children had a negative attitude towards Elaine, claiming that she was pursuing only personal mercantile goals.

The caregivers who worked in the home testified that Elaine was physically violent and very cruel to Stephen. The physicist was brought to the hospital with signs of beatings, but he denied all accusations against his wife.

In his book, he admits that he and Elaine had difficulties, but thanks his second wife for the fact that her medical care extended his life. In 2006, Stephen and Elaine finally divorced. This decision was approved by both Jane and the scientist’s children, who were with him until the end.

“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on long years,” said Lucy, Robert and Tim.

Stephen Hawking is a world-renowned astrophysicist, author of many books about the universe, popularizer of science, and director of the Center for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

For those interested in space, the universe, and theoretical physics in the spirit of what modern scientists do not yet fully know, the name Stephen Hawking will certainly be familiar. His works are about space and time, black holes, quantum mechanics and physics are aimed at making this scientific world a little simpler and more understandable. Hawking proved that the human brain can work in any body, even with limited physical abilities, you can develop and do science.

Height, weight, age. How old is Stephen Hawking

Users interested in science and reading books written by a scientist are much more interested in his point of view regarding certain physical phenomena than his personal life, and parameters: height, weight, age, how old is Stephen Hawking. Alas, the life of the great physicist was interrupted not long ago; he died on March 14, 2018 at the age of 76.

His contribution to science and space exploration is truly invaluable. Until his last breath, the author of scientific literature was studying the universe, and today, for a month after his death, publishing houses are printing the last articles of the scientist that he left to humanity.

Biography and personal life of Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was born in Great Britain in 1942, at the height of World War II. Despite the fact that he ended his life in a stroller, the boy was born absolutely normal and was no different from his peers.

The biography and personal life of Stephen Hawking is described in several books about the great scientist. While studying at school, the boy was most interested in exact sciences, he read with pleasure scientific literature, was interested in discoveries in the field of physics and astronomy, and dreamed of solving at least one problem that had not yet been solved by humanity. Despite all the achievements that are on Hawking's list today, he joked that he was the only professor in the field of mathematics without a higher education in mathematics. After leaving school, Stephen received two diplomas higher education two of the most prestigious universities England: Oxford and Cambridge. After university, the physicist taught physics, mathematics, and other related disciplines at the best institutions around the world, and reached the United States, where he worked at the University of California. That's when he first began to have serious health problems.

Family and children of Stephen Hawking

Hawking inherited his love of science and outstanding mental abilities from his father. Frank Hawking worked as a researcher in medical center, and my mother worked there as a secretary and typist. The parents of the future scientist met at work and lived in London for some time. Because of this, they had to flee from the capital to Oxford, fleeing the bombs. Here the couple had three children - Stephen and his two sisters.

In the life of the scientist himself there were two great love, thanks to which the family and children of Stephen Hawking were born. His first Jane gave birth to his wife three children. The woman was with him for a long time, supported him in everything, and, as the scientist himself said, saved him from terrible depression when he began to have health problems. Jane also helped the physicist get out of his illness when he became very ill with pneumonia, and literally saved his life. The man was unconscious and the doctors had already suggested to Jane that he be disconnected from the artificial respiration apparatus, but she did not agree and took her husband to Cambridge, where he gradually recovered. At the same time, Stephen undergoes throat surgery and loses the ability to speak.

Stephen Hawking's son - Robert Hawking

Stephen Hawking's son Robert Hawking was born in 1967 in Oxford to his first wife Jane. When the boy was very young, he was diagnosed with dyslexia; his father had the same disease in his youth. Due to illness, the boy learned to read and distinguish letters only at the age of 8, but this did not affect the boy’s mental abilities and his ability to count.

Robert studied in a class with in-depth study of mathematics and exact disciplines. His father believed in him and helped the boy with his studies, so Robert knew he could handle it. After school, he graduated from the University of London and received an education as a software engineer, which is where he works.

Stephen Hawking's son - Timothy Hawking

Stephen Hawking's son, Timothy Hawking, was born in 1979, and became the youngest of the scientist's children. After his appearance, a real drama unfolded in the family, which Stephen’s wife once described. The fact is that the mother-in-law refused to believe that Tim is Hawking’s son and her grandson. The mother-in-law said that the boy was very similar to their neighbor, and Jane herself was allegedly attracted to him at one time.

Hawking's wife was disgusted and disgusted by the thought that her mother-in-law had such an opinion of her, so she once denied these rumors in her book. As for Timothy, he was always impressed by travel and distant countries. The man knows several languages ​​and works in the field of international relations.

Stephen Hawking's daughter - Lucy Hawking

Stephen Hawking's daughter Lucy Hawking became the only girl in the scientist's family; she was born in 1970. The girl loved to read since childhood and had good inclinations to study foreign languages. She studied French, Spanish and Russian, and today works as a journalist for the most famous publications in the world: The Guardian, The Times, and New York magazine.

Lucy works as vice president of a foundation that helps disabled people and people with limited physical abilities. The woman is also a member of the astronomy society, teaches at the university, and for a long time helped her father write books. Lucy has a son.

Stephen Hawking's ex-wife - Jane Hawking

Stephen Hawking's ex-wife Jane Hawking became his support and first true love. They met in 1963, when the scientist already had health problems. Depression fell on him, he literally lived in fear of the future, and Jane’s love became a lifeline for the man. She seemed not to notice his physical deformity, and never made it clear in a word that she was dating him out of pity. She loved him with all her soul, and accepted Stephen's marriage proposal.

They lived together for 25 years, and their life was not easy, in the end the woman was tired of carrying this heavy burden, Stephen was quite heavy man, and the couple divorced.

Stephen Hawking's ex-wife - Elaine Mason

Stephen Hawking's ex-wife, Elaine Mason, came into Stephen's life completely by accident. After she left, Jane hired a nurse for her ex-husband, and Elaine appeared in the house. Hawking was very lonely. Despite the fact that he could not speak, the very feeling and presence of a woman in the house warmed him. Be that as it may, he needed a person nearby, at least to provide for his daily life. Out of desperation, Stephen married a second time, and unsuccessfully.

Elaine did not marry for love, she just wanted the scientist’s money, treated him with disdain, loved to drink and could leave her husband on the street in a stroller, knowing that he would not call for help and would not be able to move into the house on his own while she was drinking there . The scientist never complained to the children, but in 2006 he filed for divorce.

Stephen Hawking's disease

The scientist’s illness first began to appear in the 1960s. It was just some kind of hell, and since then Stephen Hawking has gone through a lot in his life. Why the physicist was paralyzed until the end, the doctors could not give an answer. He started getting sick nervous system, which literally twisted the man and put him in a wheelchair. At the same time, Stephen Hawking could always walk on his own before his illness. Photos from the man's wedding, where he stands next to Jane, show that he was once normal.

The man’s diagnosis was amyotrophic sclerosis, and doctors told him that people do not live long with this disease, but the scientist had such a passion for life and science that he lasted for many years.

Stephen Hawking died? The cause of death is still unknown

In March of this year, tragic news appeared in the media: Stephen Hawking died. The cause of death was not yet known at that time, but today the tabloids say that the scientist fell ill and his illness complicated his current diagnosis, amyotrophic sclerosis, and therefore the scientist was no longer able to get out.

Despite the fact that for many years Stephen was confined to a wheelchair, he did much more for science and the planet than a number of absolutely healthy and capable people. He did not despair, did not give up, and until the end of his life he remained sane, making new discoveries and solving complex mathematical problems that others could not cope with.

Instagram and Wikipedia Stephen Hawking

Since 1974, the scientist has been a member of the Royal Society of London, to which he was included for his services as a physicist in the development of science in the country. Already in a wheelchair, Hawking not only taught and studied the universe, but also wrote books where he described string theory, black holes and introduced the reader to theories about the origin of multiple universes. Stephen's books have been translated into many languages ​​and are still sold all over the world.