Just fifteen days before the death of Stephen Hawking, who died on Wednesday at the age of 76, physicist and writer Christophe Galfard, who had been his pupil for six years in Cambridge, told us: "We must understand that Stephen Hawking is someone who wants to make the most of life. And for him, enjoying life, when he is not enjoying a good meal in a gourmet restaurant, means seeking the laws that govern the universe. "
A sick body, a brilliant mind
Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford on January 8, 1942. His father, a biologist, wants him to follow his steps by studying medicine in Oxford. He opted for physics before leaving for Cambridge to pursue astronomy research.
Shortly after his 21st birthday, he learns that he suffers from paralytic degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Charcot's disease. Doctors give him only two years to live. His body declines inexorably. In 1974, he was unable to feed himself or get out of bed on his own. In 1985, he definitively lost the use of speech after undergoing tracheotomy following pneumonia. But his mind is intact. And his simple goal: "To completely understand the Universe, why it is as it is and why it exists. "
In the 1970s, he developed the idea that black holes do not just absorb any matter and light passing close to them but also emit radiation, the "Hawking radiation". At 32, he became the youngest member of the Royal Society, the British equivalent of the Academy of Sciences. In 1980, he was awarded the Lucasian Chair in Mathematics at Cambridge University, a post he held before him by Isaac Newton. He will leave him in 2009, struck by the age limit.
The popular incarnation of the scientist
While deepening his work on the origins of the Universe, the theorist published in 1988 A brief history of time, to explain to the general public the great principles of cosmology, from big bang to string theory. Never a book of popular science will be so successful. Since its publication, more than nine million copies have been sold.
Stephen Hawking then becomes the popular incarnation of the scientist, multiplying the interventions to promote the research and, sometimes, to worry about its possible excesses. He plays his own role in series, like Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons, signs children's books with his daughter Lucy, "sings" with his synthetic voice alongside U2, Pink Floyd and even Monty Python .
A year ago, he appeared at a conference in Hong Kong by hologram. In front of hundreds of people, he had argued that responses to multiple environmental crises "will come from science and technology".