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A wheelchair used by physicist Stephen Hawking has sold at auction for almost £300,000 ($393,000), while a copy of his doctoral thesis fetched almost £585,000 ($767,000), auctioneer Christie’s said Thursday. The motorized chair, used by Hawking after he was paralyzed with motor neuron disease, raised £296,750 in a Christie’s online auction. It had been expected to fetch up to £15,000. Proceeds from the chair’s sale will go to two charities, the Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Hawking’s 1965 Cambridge University thesis, “Properties of Expanding Universes,” sold for £584,750, more than three times its pre-sale estimate, in...

He spoke with the religious fervor of a modern-day Jonathan Edwards, but instead of sinners in the hands of an angry God, we were humans in the hands of an angry universe. Stephen Hawking lost his longtime battle with ALS on March 14, 2018 — what would have been Albert Einstein’s 139th birthday. While Hawking’s scientific achievements led the field of astrophysics forward in a number of important ways, his impact on the general public was much more of a mixed bag.Hawking took us to the limits of space and time. In the 1960s, his doctoral work helped us better...

Famed scientist Stephen Hawking died earlier this week at the age of 76. He is largely regarded as one of the most important physicists in history. Of course, the tributes came pouring in. While most commemorated his genius and determination to transcend the debilitating effects of ALS, others attempted more nuanced commentary. Like USA Today which took Hawking’s death as opportunity to remind us of the physicist’s view that “Heaven is a fairy story.” Hawking, who died at 76, spoke candidly in a 2011 Guardian interview about what he believes happens when people die. He told the Guardian that while...

The image of Stephen Hawking – who has died aged 76 – in his motorized wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination, as a true symbol of the triumph of mind over matter. As with the Delphic oracle of ancient Greece, physical impairment seemed compensated by almost supernatural gifts, which allowed his mind to roam the universe freely, upon occasion enigmatically revealing some of its secrets hidden from ordinary mortal view.

By Philip Cottraux Stephen Hawking passed away at the age of 76 this week. A theoretical physicist, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University (a position once held by Isaac Newton), and author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time, he was a legend in the scientific community. When Hawking spoke, the world listened. At one time, he seemed to be ambiguously deist (open to the possibility of God, but not as a loving Creator). But by the end, he was a devout atheist. In light of his death, the media has proudly displayed some of his most notorious...

FULL TITLE: Last photographs of Stephen Hawking emerge showing him enjoying a night out in Mayfair as his children pay tribute to the professor's 'brilliance and humour' after he dies peacefully aged 76 Professor Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76 - more than 50 years after he was given just two years to live. The world's most celebrated scientist passed away peacefully at his home in Cambridge this morning after a long battle with motor neurone disease, his family has revealed. Today the last pictures of Professor Hawking emerged and showed him out enjoying dinner in Mayfair...

Physicist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76, a spokesman for his family has said. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

A group of campaigners, including Prof Stephen Hawking, has been given permission to challenge a government health policy in the High Court. They will pursue a judicial review against Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England over plans to create accountable care organisations (ACOs). These are to act as partnership bodies incorporating hospitals, community services and councils. Campaigners say it risks privatisation, but this is denied by ministers. 'Radical changes' NHS England wants hospitals and other trusts to work closely with GPs and social care services to look after more patients in their communities rather than in hospital. In some...

Professor Stephen Hawking says he is planning to travel into space on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. The physicist and cosmologist, 75, said he had not expected to have the opportunity to experience space but that the Virgin boss had offered him a seat. Discussing the meaning of happiness on Good Morning Britain, he said: 'My three children have brought me great joy. 'And I can tell you what will make me happy, to travel in space. 'I thought no one would take me but Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic, and I said yes immediately.'

Physicist Stephen Hawking, who some have suggested is a conspiracy in and of himself, is now claiming we need “some form of world government” to protect us from the escalation of technology and artificial intelligence. “Since civilisation began, aggression has been useful inasmuch as it has definite survival advantages,” he told The Times. “It is hard-wired into our genes by Darwinian evolution. Now, however, technology has advanced at such a pace that this aggression may destroy us all by nuclear or biological war. We need to control this inherited instinct by our logic and reason.” … “The real risk with...

Professor Stephen Hawking says humans have less than 1,000 years on Earth before we are wiped out by extinction. The celebrated physicist said humans will only survive if another planet was found to live on. The 74-year-old said unless this happens then humans will be wiped out in a mass extinction.

Notes to Stephen Hawking's Personal Diary -- May 28, 2016 This Trump guy is utterly dangerous to the scientific community. Doesn't he understand that you can't teach the average working stiff anything about science and the way the world really works? I've spent decades writing books and lecturing to show that science can only be understood by professionals and academics who are paid a good salary to stare out into space and wonder about things that have zero relationship to life on Earth. And to protect that glorious profession -- keep it funded -- we've groomed our Ph. D's...

Stephen Hawking understands the workings of the universe — but says he cannot fathom the popularity of Donald Trump. The British astrophysicist told ITV’s morning show Monday that the presumptive Republican Party candidate for U.S. president “is a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator.“ Hawking also appealed to British voters to vote to keep the United Kingdom inside the European Union in a June 23 referendum. …

The immense popularity enjoyed by Pope Francis ever since his election in 2013 has precipitated sharply during the past year, and he no longer ranks among the top ten most admired men in the world, according to a massive new study involving 31,000 interviews.

Hawking at Harvard At packed Sanders Theatre, theoretical physicist and cosmologist tackles the contradictory qualities of black holes April 18, 2016 | Editor's Pick Popular Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer"If determinism — the predictability of the universe — breaks down in black holes, it could break down in other situations. Even worse, if determinism breaks down, we can’t be sure of our past history either. The history books and our memories could just be illusions. It is the past that tells us who we are. Without it, we lose our identity," said Stephen Hawking. By Peter Reuell, Harvard Staff Writer Twitter...

Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation. They would travel trillions of miles; far further than any previous craft. A $100m (£70m) research programme to develop the computer chip-sized "starships" was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Interstellar travel has long been a dream for many, but significant technological hurdles remain. But Prof Hawking told BBC News that fantasy could be realised sooner than we might think. Media captionThe spacecraft would be propelled from earth by a giant laser, as Pallab Ghosh reports "If...

While Hawking fears that giving aliens our cosmic address could potentially bring death and ruin — much like what happened to many groups of Native Americans when Europeans invaded North America — Tarter thinks that aliens advanced enough to skip across star systems and reach Earth will be friendly, not aggressive.  

American space agency, the NASA had recently observed flares of X-rays from a black hole, which goes against the conventional notion that they are compact particles with such huge gravity that even light can't escape. Last month NASA announced that two of its space telescopes caught a huge burst of X-ray spewing out of a super massive black hole. These flairs appeared to be be triggered by the eruption of a charged particle from the black hole, which according to conventional belief doesn't let anything out. The latest findings are in accordance with the theory of Indian astrophysicist Abhas Mitra...

The Church of England has received unlikely backing from the biologist and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins after the UK’s three leading cinema chains refused to screen its advertisement featuring the Lord’s Prayer. The 60-second advert was due to be shown before Star Wars: the Force Awakens, released on December 18, which would have guaranteed it a huge cinema audience in the run-up to Christmas. But the Odeon Cineworld and Vue chains, which control 80 per cent of screens around the country, have refused to allow it because of a policy not to allow political or religious advertising...The decision prompted an...

The world famous physicist has admitted that if aliens came to visit Earth, the outcome might not be a positive oneStephen Hawking has tackled the mysteries of the universe his entire life. Now the world-renowned scientist has some new things to say about a potential alien invasion . "If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans," Professor Hawking told El País . "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach," he said.