I sure didn't plan to write about this earlier in the day. Stephen Hawking, one of the most accomplished and famous physicists, is dead at 76. On the one hand it's of course a tragedy, but on the other, his condition was supposed to kill him before the age of 20.
I remember when I saw and heard him lecture in person about cosmology and origins. A Brief History of Time had just come out, and the lecture was mostly him explaining and expanding upon concepts discussed in the book.
It was also my first experience with religious hecklers posing what they hoped would be brain busting questions to Dr. Hawking. More than a few in recent years have taken to calling him Stephen Hawkins, unable to differentiate between "Dawkins" and "Hawking", the whole of science just one samey blob in their minds.
He said some very interesting things about the probable trajectory of evolution in light of technological progress which stuck with me, and shaped my views later in life. To say he left a lasting impact on me doesn't really cover it, and of course I'm hardly alone in that respect.
If there is no afterlife, then Stephen is no longer suffering and is at peace. If there is, he'll finally get all the answers to the big questions about physics, black holes and the universe that he spent his career chasing after.