Stephen Hawking Age, Wife, Death Cause, Family, Biography & More

Bio
Real Name	Stephen William Hawking
Nickname	Einstein (called in his school)
Profession	Theoretical Physicist
Fields	Quantum Gravity General Relativity
Thesis	Properties of Expanding Universes (1995)
Doctoral Advisor	Dennis Sciama (British Physicist)
Awards/Achievements	• In 1966, awarded with the Adams Prize. • In 1974, awarded with the FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) • In 1978, awarded with the Albert Einstein Award. • In 1982, awarded with the Order of the British Empire (CBE). • In 1987, awarded with the Dirac Medal. • In 1988, awarded with the Wolf Prize. • In 1989, awarded with the Royal Companion of the Honor (CH). • In 2009, awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. • In 2012, awarded with the Fundamental Physics Prize. • In 2015, awarded with the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.
Physical Stats & More
Height	in centimeters- 169 cm in meters- 1.69 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 6½”
Weight	in Kilograms- 62 kg in Pounds- 137 lbs
Eye Colour	Blue
Hair Colour	Light Brown
Personal Life
Date of Birth	8 January 1942
Birth Place	Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Date of Death	14 March 2018
Place of Death	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Age (at the time of death)	76 Years
Death Cause	Chronic illness
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Capricorn
Nationality	British
Hometown	England, United KIngdom
School	Byron House School, Highgate, London St Albans High School for Girls, St Albans Hertfordshire, England Radlett Preparatory School, England St Albans School, Hertfordshire, England
College	University College, Oxford, England Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England
Educational Qualifications	PhD from Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Family	Father- Frank Hawking (Research Biologist) Mother- Isobel Hawking (Medical Research Secretary) Brother- Edward (Adopted) Sisters- Philippa (younger), Mary (younger)
Religion	Atheist
Ethnicity	English (father), Scottish (mother)
Address	Stephen Hawking University of Cambridge DAMTP Centre for Mathematical Sciences Wilberforce Road Cambridge CB3 0WA UK
Hobbies	Reading Science Fictions, Listening to Classical Music, Giving Motivational Lectures
Controversies	• In 2010, some hardcore religious extremists found his comment controversial when he declared that his latest work shows there was no creator of universe and further said that Science will explain the beginning of the universe. • In 2013, his decision to boycott Jerusalem Conference sparked controversy in Israel.
Favourite Things
Favorite Sports	Rowing
Favorite Song	Rod Stewart love ballad "Have I Told You Lately"
Favorite Film	Jules and Jim (1962)
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Divorced
Affairs/Girlfriends	Jane Wilde (1963-1995) Elaine Mason (1995-2006)
Wife	Jane Wilde, Ex-wife (married 14 July 1965-1995) Elaine Mason, A Nurse, Ex-wife (married September 1995-2006)
Children	Sons- Robert Hawking (born 1967), Timothy Hawking (born 1979) Daughter- Lucy Hawking (born 1970)
Money Factor
Net Worth	$20 Million (as in 2016)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Stephen Hawking

• Did Stephen Hawking smoke?: Not Known

• Did Stephen Hawking drink alcohol?: Not Known

• He was born in Oxford, England (almost 300 years after the death of Galileo).

• During the 2nd World War, his parents moved from North London to Oxford as it was considered a safer place to have babies.

• When Stephen was 8 years old, his family moved to a town- St. Albans (20 miles north of London).

• Although, he was not brilliant in studies, he was nicknamed as- Einstein in his school.

• At the St. Albans High School, he was inspired by his mathematics teacher- Dikran Tahta.

• He had a close group of friends at the St. Albans High School & with the help of his mathematics teacher, Dikran Tahta; they built a computer from an old telephone switchboard, clock parts and other recycled components.

• Stephen wanted to pursue his academics in Mathematics and his father advised him to study Medicine, however, he chose Physics and Chemistry as at that time it was not possible to read Mathematics at the University College, Oxford.

• He was also a part of the rowing team at the University College, Oxford.

• He pursued his research in the field of Cosmology at the Cambridge under the guidance of Denis Sciama.

• At the Cambridge, Stephen fell in love with Jane Wilde (a friend of his sister) before the diagnosis of his disease.

• From 1979 to 2009, he held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

• At the age of 21 in 1963, while at the Cambridge, Stephen was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)- a motor neuron disease.

• After being diagnosed with ALS, Stephen fell into depression as the doctors predicted that he had only 2 years to live, however, he returned to his work with the encouragement of Denis Sciama.

• His physical abilities declined in the late 1960s.

• He developed visual methods (including seeing equations in terms of geometry), as he gradually lost the ability to write.

• Stephen was considered very humorous and witty colleague.

• By 1977, his wife met a Church Choir singer- Jonathan Hellyer Jones who was later romantically involved with her.

• By 1980s, Stephen got very close to one of his nurses- Elaine Mason and later married her in September 1995.

• Gradually, his speech was also deteriorated and to make communication, he received a computer program- Equalizer from Walter Woltsoz (CEO of Words Plus) in 1986.

• In 2005, he gradually lost the use of his hands and started controlling his communication devices with the movements of his cheek muscles (with a rate of 1 word/minute).

• Stephen incorporated with Intel researchers on systems that could translate his facial expressions and brain patterns into switch activations & finally settled on a word predictor made by- Swiftkey (a London Based Startup).

• In 2009, he lost control over his wheelchair independently and now researchers are working on a method to drive his wheelchair on his chin movements.

• Stephen Hawking has published a number of books including The Universe in a Nutshell (2001) and A Brief History of Time (2005). 

• In 2007, he experienced weightlessness in a zero-gravity flight.

• On 12 August 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the Blue Room of White House. 

• A number of feature films have been made on his life including The Theory of Everything (2014) in which Eddie Redmayne played his role and won Academy Award for Best Actor.