TOBY SHAPSHAK: Stephen Hawking — genius of courage and endurance
Stephen Hawking’s life was proof of his indomitable spirit and superior intellect
Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963, at the age of 21, by which time he was already one of the smartest people on the planet. Despite being given two years to live, Hawking survived for another 55 and became arguably the greatest mind on our planet and perhaps the greatest example of the power to overcome circumstances, no matter how cruel. He died last week, aged 76, having spent the greater part of his life in a wheelchair, losing his voice and using a synthesiser to speak. His explanation of how the universe functions has become the bedrock of how we understand our solar system. Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein laid the foundations but it was Hawking who filled in the details, and revealed many of its secrets. "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special," he said. He authored the book A Brief History of Time, which sold over 10m copies — a ...
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