Stephen Hawking, one of the most celebrated theoretical physicists and cosmologists of the modern era, made groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of the universe. His work, which spans the fields of mathematics, theoretical physics, and cosmology, has not only advanced scientific knowledge but also captured the public’s imagination. Despite living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for most of his adult life, Hawking’s intellectual curiosity and perseverance pushed the boundaries of human understanding of black holes, the origins of the universe, and the nature of time., Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge., Stephen Hawking (born January 8, 1942, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England—died March 14, 2018, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) was an English theoretical physicist whose theory of exploding black holes drew upon both relativity theory and quantum mechanics..