London - Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain
some of the most complicated questions of life while himself
working under the shadow of a likely premature death, has died
at 76.
The UK's Press Association reported his death, citing a
spokesman for the family.
Hawking's formidable mind probed the very limits of human
understanding both in the vastness of space and in the bizarre
sub-molecular world of quantum theory, which he said could
predict what happens at the beginning and end of time.
His work ranged from the origins of the universe itself,
through the tantalising prospect of time travel to the mysteries
of space's all-consuming black holes.
But the power of his intellect contrasted cruelly with the
weakness of his body, ravaged by the wasting motor neurone
disease he contracted at the age of 21.
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Hawking was confined for most of his life to a wheelchair.
As his condition worsened, he had to resort to speaking through
a voice synthesiser and communicating by moving his eyebrows.
The disease spurred him to work harder but also contributed
to the collapse of his two marriages, he wrote in a 2013 memoir
"My Brief History."
In the book he related how he was first diagnosed: "I felt
it was very unfair - why should this happen to me," he wrote.
"At the time, I thought my life was over and that I would
never realise the potential I felt I had. But now, 50 years
later, I can be quietly satisfied with my life."
Hawking shot to international fame after the 1988
publication of "“A Brief History of Time", one of the most
complex books ever to achieve mass appeal, which stayed on the
Sunday Times best-sellers list for no fewer than 237 weeks.
He said he wrote the book to convey his own excitement over
recent discoveries about the universe.
“"My original aim was to write a book that would sell on
airport bookstalls," he told reporters at the time. "“In order
to make sure it was understandable I tried the book out on my
nurses. I think they understood most of it."