Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, during the Second World War. His family lived in London, but left the city temporarily because of the bombing. After school, Hawking went to Oxford, but did not excel despite his intelligence. He did obtain the First Class Honours he needed to go to Cambridge, but was also diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 1963 and given a two year life expectancy. Initially depressed, he recovered his enthusiasm and earned his doctorate in 1966. Even as his physical health declined, Hawking’s mental abilities remained sharp. He shot up in the public eye after his 1988 book A Brief History of Time. Hawking married and divorced twice. As his body failed Hawking lost not only the ability to walk and move his limbs, but also the power of speech, necessitating the development of computer assisted communications systems for him. He has come to represent both genius and the ability to overcome physical handicaps to millions.