Stephen Hawking: podcast appearances and interviews

Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who served as the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. He held the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge from 1979 to 2009, a role regarded as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Born in Oxford into a family of physicians, Hawking earned a first-class BA degree in physics from University College, Oxford in 1959. He advanced his studies at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he completed his PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics in 1966, focusing on general relativity and cosmology. In 1963, at age 21, he was diagnosed with a slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually caused paralysis; despite this, he made significant contributions to science and communication through the use of speech-generating devices. His scientific work included collaborations with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems and the theoretical prediction of black hole radiation, which became known as Hawking radiation. This discovery was initially controversial but later recognized as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking proposed a unified theory of cosmology integrating general relativity and quantum mechanics and supported the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. He authored popular science books, notably A Brief History of Time, which remained on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 76, having survived over 50 years after his diagnosis.