Born in Oxford on January 8 1942, Professor Stephen Hawking’s grew up in St Albans.
Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics
When he was 9, he ranked as the worst student of the class but still his teachers used to think that he is a genius and will shock the world with his talent in future.
Although known at school as “Einstein”, Hawking was not initially successful academically.
He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963 at the age of 21.
Doctors expected him to live for only two more years, but he had a form of the disease which progressed more slowly than usual.
The disease left him paralyzed and completely dependent on others and technology for everything including bathing, dressing, eating, mobility and speech.
Hawking’s speech synthesizer has an American accent.
“He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”
To remember Hawking, we look at the world’s most legendary scientist’s most inspirational quotes.