top of page

STEM GLAM GALLERY: Stephen Hawking


Actress Felicity Jones (left) poses with the real Stephen Hawking (center) and actor Eddie Redmayne (right).

Hawking was born in Oxford, England, in January 8, 1942. His father, Frank Hawking, was a research biologist. Even though Hawking was first majoring in Mathematics, he decided to fulfil his father’s desire and changed to physics major and attend the Oxford University with no Math chair department that time. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Oxford at the age of 20 and then moved to Cambridge University for his graduate degree.

Sadly, at that time, he found that he had a serious motor neuron disease, called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, and told that he could live only for a few more years. Though the disease had ultimately caused him to unable to move and speak at all, luckily, however, his super-brain with superb thinkings remained unharmed. Through his perseverance and enthusiasm, he managed to live his life up to 76 years, and amazed the world with his astonishing discoveries about the Black Hole.

Despite having paralyzed and survived with medication and supplemental facilities, he did not let his enthusiasm on studying cosmology go away. He had traveled into places like Anartica and Easter Island. He had been in a zero-gravity flight. Plus, he had appeared in many tele