
Celebrating Stephen Hawking - CarolineW
https://plus.maths.org/content/celebrating-stephen-hawking
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juanre
When he was in Cambridge, where I am based, it was common to see him around.
Not long ago I was at a conference on the rise of fundamentalisms, and he was
5m from me. I found it incredibly inspiring that he'd be there, obviously
engaged and interested, despite his physical condition.

We've made a map of the stars commemorating him, in case anyone is interested.
The high-res download is here:

[https://greaterskies.com/stephen-hawking-star-
map/](https://greaterskies.com/stephen-hawking-star-map/)

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beersigns
There are many reasons to celebrate Stephen Hawking but the one I personally
am most impressed by his ability overcome an ALS diagnosis in his college
years and go on to live a life of such distinction. It takes some serious
courage to soldier on after hearing you may only have two years to live and
know that at best you will live a life of slow & debilitating physical
deterioration. I'm not sure I could face a such a prospect, so many of the
things I enjoy in life require full motor skills and then some. I'd like to
think I could adapt and follow such a bold example provided by Stephen
Hawking. His story is truly inspiring to me and I hope his story inspires
others to do great things.

~~~
RobertRoberts
I read his book, and it seems like his wife should take most of the credit for
his survival. Too bad she doesn't seem to get recognition for what she had to
go through to help him.

~~~
Someone
I’m not sure about the “most”, and she does get recognition.
[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/14/stephen-
hawk...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/14/stephen-hawking-
obituary):

 _”It is clear that he owed a great deal to his first wife, Jane Wilde, whom
he married in 1965 […]. Jane was exceptionally supportive of him in many ways.
One of the most important of these may well have been in allowing him to do
things for himself to an unusual extent.”_

