Stephen Hawking dies age 76

Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned physicist, died last Wednesday at his home in Cambridge at the age of 76.

Stephen Hawking, known for his work on singularities and black holes, was a career scientist and researcher at the University of Cambridge. He wrote the novel A Brief History of Time, about everything from the Big Bang theory to black holes, which stayed on the British Sunday Times best sellers list for a recorded 237 weeks.

Hawking suffered from a rare neuron disease known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This caused a gradual loss of movement and limited his communications to a speech-generating device controlled by a single cheek muscle.

A movie was made based on the novel written by his wife, Jane Hawking, about their life together. The film, The Theory of Everything, received several Oscar nods including best picture.

Stephen Hawking’s numerous contributions to science awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. He was always certain of his path and what he wanted to accomplish. He was quoted saying, “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”