The audience of 1,500 music lovers gathered at the Aspen music festival in Colorado burst into spontaneous applause as the master of ceremonies, Professor Stephen Hawking, appeared on stage beneath the enormous white canopy covering the outdoor stage. Aspen is a favorite watering hole of the American scientific community and a frequent venue for meetings of the world’s foremost physicists. The music festival is patronized by many of those scientists, including Stephen Hawking, and his first announcement of that evening was to introduce one of his all-time favorite pieces, the Siegfried Idyll, by Wagner, the composer he had played loudly in his postgraduate rooms in Cambridge in 1963, a short time after learning he was suffering from a life-threatening disease. This occasion could not have been more different. Now lauded as the most famous scientist of his generation, he had been specially invited to introduce the pieces for the concert, and as soon as he appeared on the stage in his wheelchair and his synthesized voice boomed out across the audience he was recognized. But the symbolism went further.

“This is the Siegfried Idyll,” he announced,⁶ “which Wagner wrote in 1870 to be performed on Christmas morning outside the bedroom of his new wife. I am here with my fiancée Elaine and we will be married in September, so I think this piece is rather appropriate.”

By the time of this concert in August 1995, the world had known for some time that Stephen Hawking’s marriage to his wife of a quarter of a century, Jane, was over. Indeed, the decree absolute had arrived at their separate homes earlier that summer, a couple of months before the planned wedding date, and the press was already hungry for anything it could discover about the forthcoming event.

For Stephen Hawking the 1990s had become a decade of even greater achievement than earlier years, but this success was largely outside of science and many would argue that his potency as a top-flight physicist had begun to wane at the end of the 1980s and that his life was now dominated instead by public activities. The 1980s had been the decade during which he had reached a global audience with his best-selling book and his television appearances; the nineties were the years when he became a household name, a public figure comfortably discussed in the same breath as other icons of popular culture—Hollywood stars, television celebrities, world leaders, and pop stars.

But this was only one facet of Hawking’s growing fame. He seemed to have gained a greater self-confidence from the incredible and unexpected success of his book and he capitalized on it rapaciously. Stephen Hawking has always been a great self-publicist and a very determined man. He had written A Brief History of Time with the simple intention of making enough money to pay for the health care he needed; his success had far exceeded his wildest expectations. But he is of course a very quick learner and soon adapted to the great wave of acclaim that swept over him at the end of the 1980s. Ironically, this accomplishment, one that had precipitated the single most important change in his life, is not something

he now sees as his greatest achievement. He has said that he is not “proud” of the success of the book but is merely “pleased” by it.¹

During the early 1990s Hawking set about adding to his literary canon with a collection of other books. First came the book-of-the-film-of-the-book—The Companion to A Brief History of Time, which was based upon the script of the Errol Morris film A Brief History of Time broadcast in 1992, a production that was itself partly based upon Hawking’s original book. Next came a collection of essays called Black Holes and Baby Universes which contained a mixture of separate short pieces covering a range of subjects from technical lectures to descriptions of the author’s personal life and views on religion and philosophy. Some time later, in 1996, a completely new version of A Brief History of Time appeared, called The Illustrated Brief History of Time. This was not merely an illustrated version of the 1988 original but a very different book, which, although based on the original manuscript, was far more accessible. To date this has sold an estimated 100,000 copies in hardback.

But by far the most significant commercial addition to Hawking’s literary canon was the publication, late in 2001, of The Universe in a Nutshell. In this book, Hawking considered many of the themes he had covered in A Brief History of Time but attempted to deal with them in clearer terms aimed squarely at a lay audience.

The responses to this book were mixed. It certainly did well in the marketplace (although not in quite the same league as A Brief History of Time). Many found The Universe in a Nutshell far more approachable than Hawking’s earlier work, yet some found little merit in it. The Guardian’s reviewer, Jon Turney, declared “The Universe in a Nutshell is more episodic than A Brief History of Time, but is mainly a commentary on the same ideas.”²

The fact that the early 1990s saw the start of a Hawking industry (of which the original version of this book was a significant part) should come as no surprise. The man had become an international

celebrity and his personal life was as fascinating to the general public as his work had been for many years to the scientifically inclined. And Hawking was quick to place himself at the very center of this process. But at the same time there was a noticeable iciness toward journalists and writers on the part of many of his friends and students, who began to resent the intrusion of fame into the equation. And is not difficult to see why.

Hawking himself had fallen into a trap of his own making, ensnared by his own success. On the one hand he wanted to exploit his fame and success, but on the other he genuinely did not want it to interfere with his work. So began a difficult juggling act—keeping up a public persona, keeping the books flowing, but at the same time maintaining his position at the cutting edge of his field.

Hawking may appear to possess superhuman abilities as a scientist and as a survivor, but he could not keep all the balls in the air at once, and many of those who know him and work with him would admit that his scientific work has indeed suffered and that Stephen Hawking no longer leads but follows closely behind other less famous innovators.

Hawking knew early on that he could use A Brief History of Time as a stepping stone rather than leaving it as an end in itself. From the moment the book reached a global audience, he rightly exploited the phenomenon he had created and was determined to gain as much as he could from it. This manifested itself in a number of ways. Some of the things Hawking has done with his fame are purely selfish, others are totally altruistic, and some he has done simply for fun.

On Christmas Day 1992 he appeared on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. He revealed little about his life that was not already known but he came across well, portraying his charm and charisma despite the mechanical sound of his voice. He talked about the ways in which he dealt with his illness and how he had succeeded in his

varied career despite the affliction of ALS, hinting that in some respects it had helped him by allowing him to focus on his thoughts without the distraction of administration and playing a practical role in his domestic life. His choice of music was a fairly predictable confection that included Beethoven, Brahms, his beloved Wagner, and the Beatles.

The following spring Hawking was approached by BT to star in a new set of commercials being produced for them by Saachi and Saachi (ironically, the company that had created the winning publicity campaigns for a Tory party Hawking absolutely detests). The message was built around the theme of the importance of communicating, even when it is very difficult to do so, and the 90-second ads showed Hawking in various impressive locations with his voiceover stating how important the ability to communicate is to humanity and how talking had been the means by which everything had been achieved in history, thereby implying that we should all invest more in the benefits to be gained from talking to others on the telephone. BT have never disclosed how much Hawking was paid for his services, but have been happy to repeat the message that Stephen was tailor-made for the job. “Hawking is a perfect example of someone who lives to communicate. He acts as a very powerful metaphor for BT.”³

Although he made a significant sum from these advertisements, far more important for Hawking was the exposure they afforded him. Although he constantly claims that he is not a media animal and resents the intrusion of publicity into his life and the demands it entails, he loves the attention he gets from appearing on millions of television screens. Among the many paradoxes that make up Stephen Hawking, one is the fact that he simultaneously shuns and courts the attention of the media, especially television and film. He genuinely feels that the crescendo of celebrity that followed the success of A Brief History of Time has damaged what, at the core of

his being, is most important to him—his scientific work; but at the same time his not inconsiderable ego propels him into more activities that will heighten his profile and take him away from the DAMTP. It was known in media circles that Hawking was desperately keen to acquire his own television show, and the BT adverts were an important stepping stone in this direction. In the autumn of 1997, almost five years after those ads, he achieved his dream when a new series, Stephen Hawking’s Universe, was broadcast for the first time. If fame was his motivation for doing the series of ads then it worked, because for a surprising number of people in Britain, Hawking is the man from the BT ads first, the author of A Brief History of Time second, and one of the world’s leading physicists third. For a depressingly large number he is only the first of these.

In the summer of 1995, riding on the crest of this new wave of fame, Hawking accepted an invitation to deliver a lecture at the Royal Albert Hall. By doing this he was again following in the footsteps of the scientist with whom he is most frequently identified— Albert Einstein. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Einstein gave a public lecture at the Albert Hall in London when he lived in England briefly during 1933. Hawking’s was the best-attended public physics lecture delivered in Britain since that occasion and he easily filled the 5,000-seat arena; on the pavements outside touts sold tickets for the event at inflated prices to fans who had not managed to obtain them through official means. In typical fashion Hawking decided to end the lecture on a controversial note similar to the way he ended his best-selling book, by discussing the question of God’s role in the mechanisms that govern the universe. He concluded, “God still has a few tricks up his sleeve.”

Although Hawking could have made a fortune from the lecture, and indeed could command almost any price to conduct a public lecture tour anywhere in the world, he provided his services for the Albert Hall event free and only agreed to be involved because the

proceeds were given over to a charity concerned with motor neuron disease. And indeed, Hawking’s greatest redeeming quality since the success of his literary career has been the fact that as his fame has soared he has exploited it as much to help others as to help himself.

Throughout the 1990s, Hawking has made every effort to help charities he believes in to gain publicity by association with his name. Quite naturally he is most keen to help charities dealing with physical disability and in particular motor neuron disease. He has been vociferous in his efforts. Writing to The Times in March 1994, he attacked the establishment by saying that disabled people

. . . face great obstacles when they want to take part in any normal activities like going to the theatre or cinema, or eating in restaurants. As I know only too well, very few London theatres and cinemas have wheelchair places. If there were such discrimination against blacks or women there would be a public outcry.⁴

But although he has endorsed national campaigns and protests, he has also worked on a local level, pushing Cambridge Council into providing local residents with better access to theaters, museums, libraries, and other public places and generally helping to raise awareness of the special needs of physically handicapped people.

He also firmly believes that the technology now available to him through the money he has earned as an author should be made available to other seriously disabled people via the NHS and claims that reliance upon charity (and in his case good fortune) is “simply not good enough.” To help the plight of others who have been paralyzed either through accidents or diseases such as ALS, Hawking has spearheaded several campaigns to generate funds. Part of this effort involved his endorsing an exhibition of the potential future technology associated with disability, called Speak to Me, based at the Science Museum in London. Merely having Hawking’s name associated with the exhibition and having him open it guar-

anteed its success, attracting the interest of the media and a public who would normally not be drawn to so esoteric an exhibition.

Shortly afterward he went on to support a charity called Aspire (Appeal for the Professor of Disability and Technology), whose aim was to create a seat at University College London devoted entirely to research into technology to be used by the disabled. Hawking said of the project:

The scope is enormous. There are over six million disabled people in this country, some very disabled like me, and a large proportion of these can be helped. Disabled people are people first and disabled second. They should not be condemned to a lifetime sentence of solitary confinement without the power to move them or communicate with the outside world.⁵

When the Civil Rights Bill eventually fell upon stony ground in 1994, Hawking urged people to react by opposing the government, saying, “I don’t think any disabled person should vote for the present government unless they do something to atone for the shabby way they killed the Civil Rights Bill.”⁶

But at the same time as he has been furthering his own career and helping others, he has had some fun. In 1993, while he was visiting the set of Star Trek, the Next Generation, Hawking let slip to the executives taking him around the Enterprise that he had always fantasized about appearing in an episode of the program. No sooner was it mentioned than the producers managed to work him into the script in a cameo role for an episode being filmed at the time. In this, his first and only dramatic role to date, Hawking appeared on the holodeck of the USS Enterprise to play poker with Data, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Afterward, one of the executives who had arranged for Hawking to appear said, “He may admire the show but we are bigger fans of his.”⁷

Not surprisingly, Hawking was soon in demand within the entertainment world. Pink Floyd sampled him talking for their album The Division Bell; and in OK Computer, released in the summer of 1997, Radiohead composed a musical collage built around Hawking reading from a preprepared script the band had written for him.

On the Internet, Hawking also attracts a great deal of attention from surfers not only interested physics and the extreme edge of cosmological research but also fascinated by his celebrity status, his relationship with science fiction and now even popular music. There are literally thousands of Stephen Hawking and A Brief History of Time sites on the World Wide Web, and through Internet forums it is remarkably easy to find people around the world at any time of the night or day happy to discuss obscure aspects of the professor’s work and thoughts. Not all of these are trivial fan websites and forums—there is the official Stephen Hawking website and lectures published by Hawking supporters and detractors. These range from other scientists working in allied fields, through producers and journalists putting their interviews and scripts online, to vigorous opponents of Hawking’s religious and philosophical views publishing online arguments refuting his statements and offering alternatives to his ideas.

Within the cloistered world of Cambridge University, Hawking is certainly the most famous and revered academic since Isaac Newton. Today he is tended round the clock by no fewer than ten nurses. He has a sumptuous office in a new building on the west side of Cambridge. Here he has had new pictures and posters put on the walls including a mock-up poster that shows Marilyn Monroe leaning against a Cadillac with Hawking in his wheelchair beside her as though they are about to go out on date together. He also has a sign on the wall that reads: “Yes, I am the centre of the universe.” Pictures of his three children are still in evidence, but there are now none of Jane Hawking, of course.

Adoration and respect are the upside of Hawking’s new-found status as some sort of universal guru, but as his fame has escalated controversy has naturally followed close behind; controversy that has often overshadowed his scientific pronouncements and upset his private life.

The backlash (and that is really not too harsh a description) began in the early 1990s, when some of his colleagues within the scientific community began to question openly what they saw as the ridiculous hyperbole that had appeared in the wake of Hawking’s trail-blazing career. Rival writer and physicist John Barrow commented in one newspaper interview: “In a list of the twelve best theoretical physicists this century, Steve would be nowhere near.”⁸ And a new attack soon began. Articles started to appear by journalists condemning what they saw as Hawking’s own lack of qualification in making his now-famous comments about religion and the interface between his scientific and religious ideas. In October 2001 a poll run by the science journal Physics World to find those whom physicists themselves believed to be the greatest practitioners of their profession throughout history placed Einstein top with 119 votes and Newton second with 46, but Hawking received only 1 vote and came last (along with many other scientists).⁹

Most prominent among Hawking’s critics is Bryan Appleyard, who has repeatedly attacked Hawking in the popular press, calling him “arrogant” and claiming that his remarks outside the world of physics are “intellectually feeble.” Appleyard’s principal contention is that Hawking knows nothing of philosophy but is trying to belittle the subject and to replace religious and philosophical conviction with a purely empirical view of the universe. But in our opinion Appleyard is blinded by his own misguided conviction that philosophy is the noblest of subjects, declaring in one particularly vitriolic piece:

The admittedly thrilling and extraordinary nature of speculative physics works to convince readers they are in the hands of a great universal adept, and that this wizard will surely be as able to navigate the human realms as deftly as he does that of the stars. The first danger of this kind of belief is that it diminishes and discredits science itself. Hawking’s idea of science is that of a rarefied discipline far above the heads of ordinary people and definitely superior to all competing forms of knowledge.¹⁰

If this were so, why did Stephen Hawking write a popular science book, why does he go out of his way to give free lectures to the public, and why is he so keen to have his books reach as wide a market as possible? His motivation can certainly not be solely attributed to financial reward and egomania.

The general feeling among many scientists who support Hawking’s stance is that Appleyard has an axe to grind and has picked on Hawking as the embodiment of what he most despises about science. Hawking himself has said of the journalist, “He has a real chip on his shoulder. I don’t know that I have seen him write approvingly of anyone. I feel he’s a failed intellectual and so he has to decry everyone else.”¹¹

Appleyard is certainly not the only public critic of Hawking. Several academics have gone on record criticizing what they see as Hawking’s pure and even dangerous atheism and a few have taken their grievances with them to the lecture circuit. One of Hawking’s most able critics is the Nobel Prize nominee chemist Dr. “Fritz” Schaefer of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia in the United States. In a lecture delivered in 1994 and now available on the Net, he quoted the great physicist (and atheist) Richard Feynman, who once said: “Everything in physical science is a lot of protons, neutrons and electrons, while in daily life, we talk about men and history or beauty and hope. Which is nearer to God—beauty and hope or the fundamental laws? To stand at either end and to walk off that end of the pier only, hoping

that out in that direction is a complete understanding, is a mistake.” Schaefer then added, “I would have to say that what Stephen Hawking has done is to walk off one end of that pier.”

Most of the flak has come not only from Hawking’s uncompromising empirical stance but also from his seeming disrespect for religious or philosophical explanations of the origin and nature of the universe. For this part, Hawking considers the many public statements of his antagonists as a touch hysterical and has wryly commented that if he had not included the famous line of A Brief History of Time—“However, if we do discover a complete theory . . . then we would know the mind of God”—he would have probably halved his sales at a single stroke.

Although he may not be quite so evangelical as some other acclaimed science popularizers, his clinical dismissal of religion and what has been seen as unforgivable arrogance are backed by a genuine belief in the claims he makes for science. Looked at dispassionately, Hawking merely offers an alternative purist view that may be taken or left at the discretion of the individual.

At the same time, whether his reputation is justified or not, there is no denying that Professor Stephen Hawking is now established as the “scientific genius” of our age and as such he is approached for comment upon almost anything that happens, even on the fringes of science, and perhaps unwisely, in his ongoing search for even greater fame he is always quick to respond.

Following the tragedy of September 11th, and as fears of biological attack swept across America, Hawking was reported as saying: “I don’t think the human race will survive the next 1,000 years unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet.” When asked for his views on nuclear weapons, he responded: “In the long term I’m more worried about biology. Nuclear weapons need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in a small lab. You can’t regulate every lab in the world.”¹²

A list of the subjects upon which Hawking has offered comment in recent years includes aliens: “I think that any alien visitation would be obvious and probably unpleasant.” Of the National Lottery he declares: “I object to the National Lottery because it encourages gambling and because it takes money from those who are least able to afford it. . . . It is pretty shabby of the government to exploit their weakness.”¹³ He has dabbled in politics, nominating Anne Campbell as the labor candidate in Cambridge during the 1997 general election, and he became a representative for Cambridge University in protracted discussions with the computer entrepreneur Bill Gates when Cambridge made its successful bid to site a massive new Microsoft research complex in the city. He is a great fan of the Internet. After having his computer system upgraded by Intel, Hawking claimed that he must be “one of the most connected people in the world and I can truly say, I’m Intel inside.”¹⁴ The company was so pleased with this publicity it added free new software to his wheelchair enabling him to use radio signals to operate lights, doors, and other electrical devices by remote control. He has even had a word or two to say about pop music, announcing in the Cambridge University student magazine Varsity that he likes Oasis.

In 1998 Hawking met President Bill Clinton at the White House. During the election campaign of 2000, he made it very clear that he considered Al Gore to be the best hope for America and the world, declaring to the press his belief that, “Mr. Gore is more prepared than any other world figure I know of to meet the challenges of the future. . . . The next president of the United States is more than a leader of your country. He will have to pilot the whole world through a period of ever-increasing change brought about by the advances in science and technology that are transforming our lives. Al Gore understands the implications of this change and will be able to shape it and seize its opportunities.”¹⁵

At the same time as he has been seen endorsing products and promoting good causes, Hawking’s sudden international fame has also set him up as a target for the gutter press. When he and Elaine Mason decided to marry in 1995, the story made headlines around the world and not all of the comments that appeared in print were complementary or congratulatory.

Naturally, all the ingredients for a sensational story were there. Hawking, the most physically disabled person in public life, the cliché of the purely cerebral entity confined to a wheelchair, was having an extramarital relationship with his nurse and had left his loving wife of twenty-five years and his three children. David Mason, former husband of Hawking’s fiancée, had been left devastated with the two heartbroken children from the marriage. And to top it off, deep down, between the lines of print, the hyperbole and the hypocrisy lay the fact that Hawking and Elaine were clearly having a sexual relationship. It was perfect media fodder.

Sadly, behind the sensational coverage of Hawking’s remarriage lay genuine pain and heartache for a collection of people including Stephen and his new partner. Jane was naturally devastated by the news, and for almost the first time she broke her silence concerning her feelings about Stephen, their marriage, and their breakup. As is often the case with couples splitting up, by the time Hawking had announced his marriage to Elaine and the papers were full of the couple’s plans, the relationship between Jane and Stephen had long since slid into recrimination and bitterness, and for a long time they did not speak to each other except over matters concerning their children. During 1995 Jane was the subject of a collection of interviews in daily newspapers and was candid about her feelings. “I do not know the dynamics of their situation,” she said referring to Stephen and Elaine, “but I believe it was ill-advised.” She then went on to comment cryptically: “I fear he has been caught up in forces beyond his control. I have been very concerned about what is hap

pening to Stephen for a long time and I will continue to be concerned.”¹⁶

Hawking’s daughter, Lucy, also broke her silence and wrote a very revealing piece for a national paper in which she described a suppressed but deep sadness and resentment over the breakup of her parent’s marriage. But at the same time she pointed out that she had never had what might be considered a “normal” childhood, and despite the best efforts of her parents she had been caught up in the offshoots of her father’s celebrity status. Apparently one anonymous Hawking fan whom she had never met had written proposing marriage—on the condition that she first read his physics thesis.

Lucy was in Prague when her father married Elaine Mason and Hawking’s eldest son, Robert, was in the United States where he now lives and works. On the day of the wedding, Jane and Stephen’s youngest son, Tim, stayed at home with his mother, and neither of the Mason children attended the ceremony.

By this time Jane was living with a classical musician, Jonathan Hellyer-Jones, and her life had moved on in other ways. She had become an author herself and had written a book about converting properties in France called At Home in France. But clearly the wounds still ran deep, because despite having rebuilt her life after the separation in 1990, recriminations continued. Jane said of Stephen and Elaine’s big day: “I wasn’t invited to the wedding and if I had been I wouldn’t have attended.” And years later, in 1999, she had published her autobiography, Music to Move the Stars, in which she gave a no-holds-barred account of her life with Stephen. Her book painted a far from pretty picture of the Hawking marriage. Meanwhile, David Mason (who had been doubly damaged by the loss of his wife because much of his computer business was built around Hawking’s system) simply commented that Hawking “uses people.”¹⁷

Even Hawking’s mother, Isobel, made a rather dignified public comment about the treatment Stephen and Elaine had received from the press, revealing in an interview that she thought her son’s relationship had been misrepresented. “The coverage of the wedding and the barrage beforehand were thoroughly unpleasant,” she said. “The impression was that Elaine was an interloper—and she is not. There is nothing disreputable about the wedding, as the press suggested. It is quite normal for people who have been together for four years to get married.”¹⁸

Indeed, the media seemed determined to portray the Hawking wedding as something of a freak show. The occasion was variously dubbed “Best-seller weds,” “Einstein wedding boycott,” and “Genius weds nurse,” and more than one national newspaper journalist wrote condescending features heavy with the whiff of sanctimoniousness.

But perhaps in reflective moments Hawking accepts this furor as the downside of having by now become public property, a figure as much in the public eye as Hollywood actors, pop stars, and royalty. If he is happy to appear in any newspaper commenting upon almost anything, then he cannot justifiably complain too much if the press fails to treat his personal life with due respect. He has never made any form of public complaint over the issue, although his mother’s comment on this was that: “Stephen and Elaine have never said it has hurt them, but I think it has caused them pain.”¹⁹

A poignant reminder of Hawking’s many-faceted life and career came with the celebration of his 60th birthday. A press release announced that there would be “a special birthday symposium photocall and that space for TV crews and photographeres would be very limited.” Newspapers around the world covered the story and great attention was given to the fact that the professor is still with us, almost 40 years after being diagnosed with ALS and given only a short time to live. But at the same time, “Hawking the

scientist” was not forgotten and he chaired a special four-day symposium at Cambridge University on “The Future of Theoretical Physics and Cosmology.” On the evening of his birthday, January 8, he hosted a private party to which over two hundred family, friends, colleagues, and former students were invited.

So beneath the hyperbole and the media gloss, who is the real Stephen Hawking? He is a force to be reckoned with, of that there is little doubt. His strength of personality is formidable—given his physical condition, how else could he have survived and achieved greatness in more than one arena? He can be ruthless; he drives a hard bargain with life and approaches it head on. He finds it difficult to compromise; his force of will can sometimes work against him. Many people find him abrasive, but on the other hand he is famous for his sense of humor. He has many close friends and admirers and has proved himself to be a loving and affectionate father. It is impossible to know the man’s inner thoughts, so intimately linked as he is to machines, a set of cold devices enabling him to move, speak, and breathe. His face is, if anything, more expressive than most because, aside from his gift for succinct language, it is just about our only window into his mind. A major part of Stephen Hawking is his work, but so few of us can understand it except in the vaguest pictorial terms. His attempt to communicate his understanding to the world at large through his best-selling book has succeeded. Of course, a great many copies of A Brief History of Time have hardly been opened, left to adorn bookshelves as fashion accessories, but despite this there are many—perhaps millions—who have learned more about the universe we live in through reading his words. He has achieved astounding success by awakening a skeptical public and an even more skeptical media to the beauty of science, a subject at the heart of our society and the future of civilization. The popularization of science has seen a new

renaissance, thanks in large measure to his efforts, and indeed there is now a recognized “Hawking factor” in science publishing.

Beyond all this, running deeper than his hugely successful writing career, beyond even his scientific achievements, there remains the human triumph of his very survival, the strength of his spirit in accomplishing more than most of us dream about. Some claim that Stephen Hawking has made it only because of the unfortunate circumstances in which he has found himself, but such glibness denies the very essence of humanity. Others crumble under far less strain. It is the Stephen Hawkings of this world who soar, no matter what befalls them. To those intent upon destroying legends and denigrating achievement, he has a typically modest but perfectly accurate response. It would stand equally well as his own epitaph and as a philosophy of life for all of us to follow: “One has to be grown up enough to realize that life is not fair. You just have to do the best you can in the situation you are in.”²⁰