Renowned British theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking has passed away at the age of 76.
The physicist suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease that left him almost entirely paralyzed.
Hawking was diagnosed with the motor neuron disorder when he was 21. He lived with the degenerative disorder for more than 50 years.
The British scientist was famed for his work with black holes and relativity and wrote several popular science books including ‘A Brief History of Time’, which became a worldwide bestseller.
In 1974, he became one of the youngest fellows of Britain's most prestigious scientific body, the Royal Society.
In 1979, he was appointed for the chair of “Lucasian Professor of Mathematics” at Cambridge University.
His early life was chronicled in the 2014 film "The Theory of Everything"