A visionary minded physicist, a scientific promoter, a guru of modern cosmology: Stephen Hawking – who passed away at the age of 76 on March 14, 2018 – has not only been a brilliant scientist, but also a contemporary pop icon, very familiar to the fans of the TV series The Simpsons and to the ones of Star Trek, and during the last period of his life also to the young followers of the boy band One Direction or to the fans of The Big Bang Theory.
In the movie “The Theory of Everything” we have learned the most intimate and dramatic aspects of his exceptional story, but the life of Stephen Hawking is filled with many stories and curiosities, some of which are probably less known to the general public. For instance, did you know about the bet he made forty years ago on black holes? What about his contribution to rock music? Below are 10 facts you should know about the British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking.
In between the many academic publications and popular works written by Hawking there are also books for children. These include a trilogy (George’s Secret Key to the Universe, George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt, George and the Big Bang) written with his daughter Lucy between 2007 and 2011. Throughout the pages of the novels, the exceptional adventures of young George provide the cue to explain in extremely elementary words mysterious and fascinating concepts, such as the black holes or the origin of life.
