Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned brilliant physicist best-known for his work on relativity and black holes, has died at the age of seventy-six.
Trek fans also know Hawkings for his appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation: Descent, Part I, where Hawkings played poker with Data, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein.
Born in 1942, Hawking was diagnosed with a rare form of a motor neurone disease similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in his early twenties. He was only given a few years to live at that time. His illness made him wheelchair-bound, and Hawkings was eventually obliged to speak through a voice synthesizer after a bout with pneumonia in the 1980s.
In spite of this, Hawkings went on to have a stellar career as a researcher and author. His A Brief History of Time was a bestseller.
Hawkings made appearances on various television shows (or voiced his character) including The Simpsons, Futurama, The Big Bang Theory, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Married twice, Hawkings had three children by his first wife. His children, in a statement, said “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years.”
