History Creator / StephenHawking

Stephen William Hawking [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA]] (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical astrophysicist known for his world-recognised work on black holes, theoretical cosmology, and quantum gravity. The ability to do most of this work entirely in his head led him to be generally recognized as the most brilliant scientist since UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein (Hawking himself disputed that title, however, arguing himself to be, at best, the greatest scientist since UsefulNotes/RichardFeynman, whom he considered the best since Einstein). The reason this was necessary is that he had been left almost paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, [[MachineMonotone "speaking" through a specially-designed computer]] (the voice of which is also very well-known), due to his having motor neuron disease (MND). This is the collective name for a group of five related degenerative neural disorders, of which best-known to the general public is ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), better known to Americans as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's not definitively known which form of MND he had, although it was believed he had ALS. (He was rather famous for his affliction, as well: if it was ALS, it was the most protracted case ever recorded -- it didn't progress the way ALS normally does, which stymied a definitive diagnosis, which can only be confirmed by post-mortem dissection of the brain.)

* MistakenNationality: Due to his American computer voice and frequent appearances in American TV shows, some people were unaware that he was actually born in the United Kingdom.

Stephen William Hawking [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA]] (8 January 1942 - 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical astrophysicist known for his world-recognized work on black holes, theoretical cosmology, and quantum gravity. The ability to do most of this work entirely in his head led him to be generally recognized as the most brilliant scientist since UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein (Hawking himself disputed that title, however, arguing himself to be, at best, the greatest scientist since UsefulNotes/RichardFeynman, whom he considered the best since Einstein). The reason this was necessary is that he had been left almost paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, [[MachineMonotone "speaking" through a specially-designed computer]] (the voice of which is also very well-known), due to his having motor neuron disease (MND). This is the collective name for a group of five related degenerative neural disorders, of which best-known to the general public is ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), better known to Americans as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's not definitively known which form of MND he had, although it was believed he had ALS. (He was rather famous for his affliction, as well: if it was ALS, it was the most protracted case ever recorded -- it didn't progress the way ALS normally does, which stymied a definitive diagnosis, which can only be confirmed by post-mortem dissection of the brain.)

Hawking was also quite famous for his sense of humor. He appeared several times on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[[note]]Although Hawking stated that he enjoyed guest-starring on ''The Simpsons'', he also hated the attention it got him as most people now knew Hawking from his appearance on the show, rather than his intellectual pursuits.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' AsHimself, each time bordering on the line of AdamWesting. (And yes, that's him reciting one of the "Boom-de-yadas" in the Creator/DiscoveryChannel's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 I Love The Whole World]]" promo.) {{Expy}}s of him appeared in parody form (''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'') and in CharlieAndTheChocolateParody form (''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty''). He appeared as a character, but not on camera (perhaps he couldn't make the shoot fit his schedule, or just didn't like the show), in an episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. Finally, he was the only person to appear in any ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series AsHimself (obviously, as a holodeck recreation of himself). Hawking was also known to be a fan of ''Series/RedDwarf''. He also appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', where he and Crocker knew each other from their days as college students. And while he was not involved in the production of the nerdcore rapper M.C. Hawking (which uses a VERY similar text-to-speech voice program, albeit not identical), he gave his full approval of the parody act.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Asked how he had fathered children despite his condition, he replied that Lou Gehrig's Disease only affects voluntary muscles.[[note]]In case you are wondering, ALS does not affect nerves which control the reproductive system, so getting and maintaining an erection is not a problem nor is producing sperm and fathering children. Secondly, and much more importantly, ALS is a progressive disease. It gets worse over the years. A person does not start as healthy and end up paralyzed the next day when afflicted. Neither did Hawking. Hawking's first two children were born when he was still in the early stages of the disease, he was walking and functioning more or less normally at the time. His third was born when he was wheelchair bound, but still much more ambulatory and mobile than he was later in life.[[/note]]

* AWizardDidIt: Defied. God did not create the Universe, according to Hawking. Or more specifically, He may have, but He didn't ''need'' to, as it can be explained by gravity and quantum mechanics. His theory was challenged (along with his theory on the existence of black holes) but he remained confident about the possibility.

* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: His synthetic voice was trademarked, to the point that once he saw ''Film/TheTheoryOfEverything'', [[ApprovalOfGod his approval]] led to a similar computerized speech being replaced by the real deal.

* SyntheticVoiceActor: A famous example, and probably the TropeCodifier for many other examples. Notably, he appeared AsHimself on several popular shows using his distinctive MachineMonotone voice.

* HandicappedBadass: Anyone who defies an AndIMustScream condition, live 53 years longer than the doctors predicted [[note]]Everybody thought he only had two years left when he was officially diagnosed[[/note]], and becomes a significant figure of pop culture has to count as one.

* TheArtifact / GrandfatherClause: He used the same voice synthesizer for decades, even as it got increasingly out of date. It would have been easy for him to attain a more advanced one, or even just one that actually has an English accent, but he realized that the particular voice he had all these years was an iconic part of his public image, so he didn't bother to upgrade. Even when the 30-year old hardware voice synthesizer began to fail in 2017, Hawking still wanted to keep his iconic voice, necessitating that the band of engineers who built the device in the first place be [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether Put Back Together]] to create an [[{{UsefulNotes/Emulation}} emulator]] of the device in order to preserve his voice.

* TheSpeechless: Due to his ALS. He used text-to-speech technology to communicate with people.

* BadassBookworm: The man lived with ALS for almost all of his entire adult life, and kept it at bay enough to still be one of the greatest scientists in the modern world, even living to old age despite being told he'd be dead within two years of prognosis. Considering the reputation the disease has, that's incredible.

-->-- '''Stephen Hawking''' upon seeing the Warp-Core when touring the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' set.

* TheArtifact / GrandfatherClause: He used the same voice synthesizer for decades, even as it got increasingly out of date. It would have been easy for him to attain a more advanced one, or even just one that actually has an English accent, but he realized that the particular voice he had all these years was an iconic part of his public image, so he didn't bother to upgrade. Even when the 30-year old hardware voice synthesizer began to fail in 2017, Hawking still wanted to keep his iconic voice, necessitating that the band of engineers who built the device in the first place be [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether Put Back Together]] to create an [[{{Emulation}} emulator]] of the device in order to preserve his voice.

** In a [[https://youtu.be/OPV3D7f3bHY mock interview]] with [[JohnOliver John Oliver]], he had many sarcastic lines:

* HandicappedBadass: Anyone who defies an AndIMustScream condition, live 55 years longer than the doctors predicted, and becomes a significant figure of pop culture has to count as one.

** in a [[https://youtu.be/OPV3D7f3bHY mock interview]] with [[JohnOliver John Oliver]], he had many sarcastic lines:

* NoBackwardsCompatibilityInTheFuture: In TheNewTens, the hardware voice synthesizer that provided his voice started showing signs of failure with no way to replace it, threatening to erase his iconic voice forever. As a solution to this problem, he ended up bringing the team of engineers who designed the synthesizer back together to create an emulator of the device that could run on a modern computer.

* TheArtifact / GrandfatherClause: He used the same voice synthesizer for decades, even as it got increasingly out of date. It would have been easy for him to attain a more advanced one, or even just one that actually has an English accent, but he realized that the particular voice he had all these years was an iconic part of his public image, so he didn't bother to upgrade.

* TheArtifact: He used the same voice synthesizer for decades, even as it got increasingly out of date. It would have been easy for him to attain a more advanced one, or even just one that actually has an English accent, but he realized that the particular voice he had all these years was an iconic part of his public image, so he didn't bother to upgrade.

* AdamWesting: Anytime he appeared in animated form, expect his wheelchair to be a cross between WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget and a [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Transformer]].

Hawking was also quite famous for his sense of humor. He appeared several times on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[[note]]Although Hawking stated that he enjoyed guest-starring on ''The Simpsons'', he also hated the attention it got him as most people now knew Hawking from his appearance on the show, rather than his intellectual pursuits.[[/note]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' AsHimself, each time bordering on the line of AdamWesting. (And yes, that's him reciting one of the "Boom-de-yadas" in the Creator/DiscoveryChannel's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 I Love The Whole World]]" promo.) {{Expy}}s of him appeared in parody form (''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'') and in CharlieAndTheChocolateParody form (''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty''). He appeared as a character, but not on camera (perhaps he couldn't make the shoot fit his schedule, or just didn't like the show), in an episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. Finally, he was the only person to appear in any ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series AsHimself (obviously, as a holodeck recreation of himself). Hawking was also known to be a fan of ''Series/RedDwarf''. He also appeared in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', where he and Crocker knew each other from their days as college students. And while he was not involved in the production of the nerdcore rapper M.C. Hawking (which uses a VERY similar text-to-speech voice program, albeit not identical), he gave his full approval of the parody act.

* AWizardDidIt: Defied. God did not create the Universe, according to Hawking. Or more specifically, He may have, but He didn't ''need'' to, as it can be explained by gravity and quantum mechanics. His theory was challenged (along with his theory on the existence of black holes) but he remained confident about the possibility.

* AndIMustScream: Defied despite his condition. Put best with this quote from ''Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking'':
--> ''"Hello. I am Stephen Hawking. Physicist, cosmologist, and something of a dreamer. Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free."''

* AsHimself: The only person to have appeared in the entire ''StarTrek'' franchise As Himself.[[note]]Technically, as a ''hologram'' of himself, but he played the hologram.[[/note]]

-->''"Life has thrown at me both good times and bad. Perhaps it is human nature, that we adapt, and survive. As for me, I have lived with the prospect of an early death most of my life. I am not afraid of dying, but I am in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do and find out first."''
* DisabledSnarker

---> ''"It is widely accepted in the field, that a key factor of achieving World Cup champions status is winning matches."''

* MistakenNationality: Due to his American computer voice and frequent appearances in American TV shows some people were unaware that he was actually born in the United Kingdom.

* SilentSnarker: A variation. Since Hawking's voice computer couldn't really do inflection, Hawking himself would indicate sarcasm or slyness through use of the occasional {{Aside Glance}} and eyeroll.

** In the Creator/{{PBS}} miniseries ''[[http://www.pbs.org/genius-by-stephen-hawking/home/ Genius By Stephen Hawking]]'', he uses a simulation [[Film/BackToTheFuture with three DeLoreans]] to demonstrate that time travel to the past would require you (or at least whatever particles make up your body) to be duplicated, a violation of conservation of mass.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Astonishingly, he died on Albert Einstein's birthday (March 14) and at the same age (76).

* SilentSnarker: A variation. Since Hawking's voice computer couldn't really do inflection, Hawking himself would indicate sarcasm or slyness through use of the occasional {{Aside Glance}}s and eyerolls.

* HandicappedBadass: Anyone who defies an AndIMustScream condition, live 55 years longer than anyone would have expected him to do so, and becomes a significant figure of pop culture has to count as one.

--> '''Hawking''': I'm working on that...

* HandicappedBadass: Anyone who defies an AndIMustScream condition, live 55 years longer than anyone would have expected him to do so,and becomes a significant figure of pop culture has to count as one.

* OneOfUs: A huge fan of ''Franchise/StarTrek'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''Series/RedDwarf'', all of which he appeared in [[AdamWesting as himself.]] Also of ''Series/DoctorWho'', even appearing in the special where Creator/PeterCapaldi was introduced as the new Doctor. And scored a cameo in 2014 Creator/MontyPython reunion show, where he stops Brian Cox from critiquing [[Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife The Galaxy Song]] ("I feel you are being pedantic.") and rolls away reciting the lyrics. He also gave his approval to M.C. Hawking, a parody gangsta rap album created by use of a vocal synthesizer that sounded quite similar to his own.