Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking passes away at 76. He died in his home in Cambridge, his family said to the media.
At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with a slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease or Lou Gehrig's disease, that gradually paralysed him over the decades. The illness left him wheelchair-bound and largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesiser.
He had thirteen honorary degrees to his credit. He was awarded the CBE (1982), Companion of Honour (1989) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009). He was also the recipient of many prizes including the Fundamental Physics prize (2013), Copley Medal (2006) and the Wolf Foundation prize (1988).
Hawking's many publications include The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime with G F R Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W Israel, and 300 Years of Gravitation, with W Israel and his populr books are A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes.