Stephen Hawking was a renowned physicist and author who died on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76. He was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease in 1963, at the age of 21, which gradually paralyzed him over decades. Despite his disease, he continued his work and made significant contributions to the field of physics, particularly in the study of black holes. Hawking communicated through a speech-generating device, initially through the use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. He was ranked number 25 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons in 2002. Hawking was married twice, first to Jane Wilde, with whom he had three children, and later to Elaine Mason, one of his nurses. He had many students, supervised 39 successful PhD students during his career, and retired as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 2009. Hawking did not believe in God and called heaven "a fairy story".