Stephen Hawking Is Born

Setting the scene

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford on January 8, 1942—exactly 300 years after Galileo's death, a coincidence he liked to note. His parents were intellectuals; his father researched tropical medicine.

What happened

At Cambridge, Hawking studied cosmology; at 21 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and given roughly two years to live. He defied prognosis, married, and produced work on black holes, Hawking radiation, and the universe's origins.

Why it still matters

His 1988 book A Brief History of Time sold more than 10 million copies and spent years on bestseller lists. Memorable detail: Hawking's synthesized voice, originally from a speech program called Equalizer, became so iconic he declined upgrades that would have made him sound more natural.

Background

A Brief History of Time reached millions.