Gina Heslop
The life of Stephen Hawking, a visionary physicist and one of the most renowned scientists of modern times, is an inspiration to many. He was particularly famed for his work with black holes and relativity. His book, A Brief History of Time, spent four years at the top of the Sunday Times best-seller list and was sold millions of copies and translated into 40 languages.
Hawking’s father did not want him to study mathematics and made him do chemistry, but he ended up being a professor of mathematics without any formal instruction in the subject since he left school. At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and was given two and a half years to live.
But he proved doctors wrong and lived a fulfilled life until 76. Hawking communicated through a program called Equalizer, developed by a computer expert in California named Walt Woltosz, once he lost the ability to walk and speak. With his wife, Jane Wilde, Hawking had three children, among which his only daughter, Lucy Hawking, is keeping her father’s legacy alive.
Lucy studied French and Russian, and later theater. She worked as a journalist who wrote for several newspapers in both the UK and the US, and then she and her father wrote their first book together, George’s Secret Key to the Universe, which revolves around George, who learns about the universe by traveling around and exploring it.
