2-991-303 - Heritage Imagined/Heritage Images

AI IMAGE - Portrait of Stephen Hawking, 2000s, (2023). Professor Hawking (1942-2018) was a British theoretical physicist, mathematician, cosmologist and author. At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually, over decades, paralysed him. After losing his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. Despite his disability he made a major contribution to our understanding the universe and physics, and black holes in particular. His book "A Brief History of Time" appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.