World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking passed away Wednesday. He was 76.
The professor’s family released a statement in the early hours of Wednesday morningconfirming he died in his home, according to The Guardian.
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” his children, Lucy, Robert and Tim, with first wife Jane said in the statement.
“He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years,” it continued. “His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humor inspired people across the world.”
“He once said, ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him forever.”
Jane and Hawking divorced in 1995 after 30 years of marriage, but she remained a constant in his life. He remarried Elaine Mason that same year and they were together 11 years before ending their marriage.
Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurons disease at 21 years of age in 1963 and was given two years to live. As his condition worsened, Hawking gradually began to lose his ability to move, slowly being able to communicate by using a single cheek muscle that was attached to a device that allowed him to speak.
Despite his diagnosis, he continued his studies at Cambridge University and went on to change the subject of cosmology.
