Stephen Hawking - The man who examined the Universe and explained black hole

Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking breathed his last today at the age of 76. 

Known for his work with black holes and relativity, the eminent physicist was an author of several popular books including - A Brief History of Time which became a bestseller with over 10 million copies sold in 20 years.

Let’s dwell further into some of the interesting facts of his life -

• Hawking, born on January 8, 1942 was not able to read properly until the age of eight and his grades were among the worst in the class. Nevertheless, at the age of 17, he cleared the Oxford entrance exam to score a scholarship to study physics.
• He has written a children’s book - George's Secret Key to the Universe.
• In 1997, Hawking lost a bet made with American theoretical physicist John Preskill when he claimed that nothing can escape a black hole, not even information. He was proven wrong and even admitted his mistake in 2004.
• He took a zero-gravity flight using a service provided by Zero Gravity Corp in 2007. According to him, humans would need to travel in zero-gravity environments, to colonize other planets and their satellites as the future of Earth might not sustain human life.
• Hawking was one of the most important members of Oxford Rowing Team before he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease that gradually paralysed him over the decades. 
• The voice assigned to his speech synthesizer is one of its kind and even though he is of British origin, the artificial voice has an American accent. Hawking even refused to upgrade it as he believed that the unique voice has become a part of his identity.
• Despite being considered one of the leading voices in science because of his extensive research and work related to understanding the universe, Hawking never was nominated for a Nobel Prize, mainly because of the field of his research – black holes.
• He made several appearances on television including The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek: Next Generation. Also, The Simpsons had him make an animated appearance and also give the voice of his famous voice synthesizer.