Stephen Hawking, Great physicist, dead at the age of 76
Stephen Hawking: Visionary physicist dies aged 76 Stephen Hawking, the British physicist whose scientific achievements, decades-long battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and best-selling book “A Brief History of Time” helped make him the most celebrated scientist since Albert Einstein, died at his home in Cambridge, England, his family said in a statement early Wednesday. He was 76. Dr. Hawking, who was emeritus Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, a chair once held by Sir Isaac Newton, was often called the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein. His most important work — which brought together quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and the general theory of relativity — marked a startling extension of Einstein’s greatest discovery, relativity. Dr. Hawking focused his research on what are now known as black holes, dying stars that have collapsed upon ...
