PHOTOS: Stephen Hawking Before Disease

Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who, at the time of his death, was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

Stephen Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford, into a family of physicians. In October 1959, at the age of 17, Stephen Hawking began his university education at University College, Oxford, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics.

In October 1962, Stephen Hawking began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where in March 1966 he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specializing in general relativity and cosmology.

In 1963, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS, for short) that gradually, over the decades, paralysed him.

View photos of Stephen Hawking prior to the motor neurone disease below:

After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.