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

stephen-hawking

Bio
Real NameStephen William Hawking
NicknameEinstein (called in his school)
ProfessionTheoretical Physicist
FieldsQuantum Gravity
General Relativity
ThesisProperties of Expanding Universes (1995)
Doctoral AdvisorDennis 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
Heightin centimeters- 169 cm
in meters- 1.69 m
in Feet Inches- 5’ 6½”
Weightin Kilograms- 62 kg
in Pounds- 137 lbs
Eye ColourBlue
Hair ColourLight Brown
Personal Life
Date of Birth8 January 1942
Birth PlaceOxford, 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 signCapricorn
NationalityBritish
HometownEngland, United KIngdom
SchoolByron House School, Highgate, London
St Albans High School for Girls, St Albans Hertfordshire, England
Radlett Preparatory School, England
St Albans School, Hertfordshire, England
CollegeUniversity College, Oxford, England
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England
Educational QualificationsPhD from Trinity Hall, Cambridge
FamilyFather- Frank Hawking (Research Biologist)
stephen-hawking-father
Mother- Isobel Hawking (Medical Research Secretary)
stephen-hawking-mother
Brother- Edward (Adopted)
Sisters- Philippa (younger), Mary (younger)
stephen-hawking-with-his-younger-sister-mary
ReligionAtheist
EthnicityEnglish (father), Scottish (mother)
AddressStephen Hawking
University of Cambridge
DAMTP
Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Wilberforce Road
Cambridge
CB3 0WA
UK
HobbiesReading 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 SportsRowing
Favorite SongRod Stewart love ballad "Have I Told You Lately"
Favorite FilmJules and Jim (1962)
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital StatusDivorced
Affairs/GirlfriendsJane Wilde (1963-1995)
Elaine Mason (1995-2006)
WifeJane Wilde, Ex-wife (married 14 July 1965-1995)
stephen-hawking-with-his-ex-wife-jane-wilde
Elaine Mason, A Nurse, Ex-wife (married September 1995-2006)
stephen-hawking-with-his-ex-wife-elaine-mason
ChildrenSons- Robert Hawking (born 1967), Timothy Hawking (born 1979)
Daughter- Lucy Hawking (born 1970)
stephen-hawking-with-his-1st-wife-jane-and-children
Money Factor
Net Worth$20 Million (as in 2016)

stephen-hawking

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). a-brief-history-of-time
  • 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 Houseobama-and-stephen-hawking
  • 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 Actorthe-theory-of-everything