Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA (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 at the time of his death. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009. Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of doctors. He began his university education at University College, Oxford, in October 1959 at the age of 17, where he received a first-class BA (Hons.) degree in physics. He began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in October 1962, where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specializing in general relativity and cosmology in March 1966. In 1963, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neuron disease that gradually paralyzed him over the decades. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device, initially using a handheld switch and eventually by using a single cheek muscle.
 

Famous Astronomers

An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who studies stars, planets, moons, comets, and galaxies, as well as many other celestial objects.

A related but distinct subject, cosmology, is concerned with studying the universe as a whole. An astronomer researches the world beyond Earth.