Professor Stephen William Hawking, passed on in his sleep in his Cambridge home (England).

Hawking was born on 8th January 1942 in Oxfordshire, England, and went to his first school in St. Albans, 20 miles north of London. He grew up and, eventually, he began his undergraduate years at a University in Oxford in 1959. For his first few months, he felt bored and lonely. He also stated that he found his academic work “Ridiculously Easy.”

In his three years in Oxford, he would only manage to do an unimpressive 1,000 hours of studying. This made him very anxious and restless because, his University Finals were coming up. The night before the Exams, he slept very poorly due to stress. His eventual results were a border-line between first and second class honours. He said that if he was given a first class honour, that he’d go to Cambridge but if he got a second class, he’d stay at Oxford. The Oxford University presented him with a first class honour in natural science, and he began his graduate work.

During his graduation years, at age 21, he was diagnosed with ALS: a form of motor neuron disease, leaving him almost entirely paralysed. The doctors who diagnosed him, told Hawking that he had two or three years to live. But, amazingly, he surpassed this by 55 whole years.  He went on to make theories about how the universe was made by, “The Big Bang,” and also, possibly one of his most well known theories, on black holes.

He began writing many books alongside various authors and having movies made for him. He also had many cameos in various shows, such as, ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’. He was awarded many awards, and was visited by many celebrities from all over the Earth; so he was of high importance to the world.

Sadly, Hawking passed away at the age of 76 Tuesday morning in his Cambridge home. He may have passed, but his ideas and legends will live on. He has revolutionised the way we look at the earth and universe, and his ideas will continue to benefit the world we live in, and hopefully, the rest of time.

Thomas (Year 7)