Stephen Hawking, one of the most famous scientist in modern days, has died at age 76, a family spokesman said on Wednesday.
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” Professor Hawking’s children, Lucy, Robert, and Tim said in a statement carried by Britain’s Press Association news agency. “He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years.”
The best-known theoretical physicist of his time, Hawking dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe. His work ranged from the origins of the universe itself, through the possible prospect of time travel to the mysteries of space’s all-consuming black holes.
Hawking also wrote so lucidly of the mysteries of space, time and black holes that his book, “A Brief History of Time,” became an international bestseller, making him one of science’s biggest celebrities since Albert Einstein.
Hawking contracted motor neurone disease in 1963 and was given two years to live but he stunned doctors by living with the normally fatal illness for more than 50 years. However, he was confined for most of his life to a wheelchair. As his condition worsened, he had to resort to speaking through a voice synthesiser and communicating by moving his eyebrows.
The physicist and cosmologist was also the subject of the 2014 film ‘The Theory Of Everything’, which starred Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.
Also read: Stephen Hawking: A brief history of one of most famous modern-day scientist
