5 Things you Didn’t Know about Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking died in Cambridge on Wednesday March 14 at 76 years old. Let’s pay tribute to the world-renown physician by telling you 5 things you didn’t know about him.

1.       He didn’t do well in school

Hawking’s grades were mediocre when he was younger. At 9 years old, his grades ranked among the worst in his class. But it is said he had always been interested in physics and dissembled things like clocks for fun.

2.       He was expected to die in his 20s

At 21, the physician was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurological disease that causes patients to lose control of their voluntary muscles. He was told he'd probably only have a few years to live. And yet, he lived till 76!

3.       He wrote a children's book

This was totally unexpected, but Stephen Hawking was a children’s book author! Stephen and his daughter Lucy Hawking wrote a book back in 2007 called "George's Secret Key to the Universe."

4.       He believed in aliens

Lots of people believe that there could be aliens in outer space, and one of them was Stephen Hawking. In his opinion, there could be some kind of primitive or intelligent alien life out there since the universe is so big.

5.       He had an American accent despite being English

Stephen Hawking spent his whole childhood in England. However, he has an American accent. It’s his speech synthesizer that makes him speak American; it was created for him by a Californian company, and therefore has an American accent. He uses this device because his vocal chords are way too weak.