Hawking’s global warnings divided opinion but the world listened

Stephen Hawking in front of a starry background

Stephen Hawking was a public face for physics for more than three decades

Jemal Countess/Getty

On the 14 March 2018, on what would have been Albert Einstein’s 139th birthday, internationally renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died. He was born 76 years earlier, on 8 January 1942, precisely 300 years after the death of Galileo. Many words will be written on his scientific work, from black holes to the birth of the universe, but, of course, his cultural impact has been much larger.

Hawking appeared on the public stage in 1988, with the publication of A Brief History …