Photo: NASA / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Stephen Hawking is one of those rare figures who managed to be both a genuine scientific titan and a genuine cultural icon — and I find that combination almost impossibly impressive. He spent over five decades doing serious work on black holes and cosmology, holding the Lucasian Professorship at Cambridge that Newton once held, all while living with a motor neurone disease that doctors gave him just a few years to survive back in 1963. That he not only survived but produced some of the most consequential theoretical physics of the 20th century — including his work on Hawking radiation — is staggering. Then he wrote A Brief History of Time, which sold tens of millions of copies and made the average person genuinely curious about the origins of the universe. He pulled off the near-impossible: making hard science feel urgent and personal. Gone in 2018, but the ideas he left behind are very much still running the conversation.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Stephen Hawking
- Name (Japanese)
- スティーヴン・ホーキング
- Reading
- すてぃーゔん・ほーきんぐ
- Born
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Horse
- Origin
- Oxford, United Kingdom
- Occupation
- theoretical physicist / cosmologist / astrophysicist / mathematician / pedagogue
2. Background
- High school
- St Albans High School for Girls
- University
- University College, Oxford
Awards & achievements
- 1979 Albert Einstein Medal
- 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics
- 2006 Copley Medal
- 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 2013 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
- 1989 Companion of Honour
- 1975 Eddington Medal
- 1985 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | A Brief History of Time | — | |
| Notable work | Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays | — | |
| Notable work | The Universe in a Nutshell | — | |
| Notable work | On the Shoulders of Giants | — | |
| Notable work | God Created the Integers | — | |
| Notable work | The Dreams That Stuff Is Made of: The Most Astounding Papers of Quantum Physics and How They Shook the Scientific World | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Stephen Hawking born?
January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018.
Where is Stephen Hawking from?
Stephen Hawking is from Oxford, United Kingdom.
What does Stephen Hawking do?
Stephen Hawking works as theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, mathematician, pedagogue.
What is Stephen Hawking known for?
Notable works include A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell.
Theoretical physicist — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.