Stephen Hawking's parents lived in London where his father was undertaking research into medicine. However, London was a dangerous place during World War II and Stephen's mother was sent to the safer town of Oxford where Stephen was born. The family were soon back together living in Highgate, north London, where Stephen began his schooling.

In March 1959 Hawking took the scholarship examinations with the aim of studying natural sciences at Oxford. He was awarded a scholarship, despite(尽管) feeling that he had performed(完成) badly, and he specialized in physics in his natural sciences degree. He only made a First Class degree in 1962.

From Oxford, Hawking moved to Cambridge to take up research in general relativity and cosmology (宇宙论), a difficult area for someone with only a little mathematical background. Hawking had noticed that he was becoming rather clumsy (笨拙的) during his last year at Oxford and, when he returned home for Christmas in 1962 at the end of his first term at Cambridge, his mother persuaded him to see a doctor.

In early 1963 he spent two weeks having tests in hospital and motor neuron(神经细胞) disease was diagnosed(诊断). His condition deteriorated(恶化) quickly and the doctors predicted that he would not live long enough to complete his doctorate. However Hawking made progress with his research.

The reason that his research progressed was that he met a girl he wanted to marry and realized he had to complete his doctorate to get a job.

Between 1965 and 1970 Hawking worked on singularities(奇特) in the theory of general relativity devising new mathematical techniques to study this area of cosmology. From 1970 Hawking began to apply his previous ideas to the study of black holes.

Continuing this work on black holes, Hawking discovered in 1970 a remarkable property. Using quantum theory (量子论) and general relativity he was able to show that black holes can emit radiation(辐射). In 1971 Hawking investigated(调查) the creation of the Universe and predicted(预言) that, following the big bang(撞击), many objects would be created. In 1982 Hawking decided to write a popular book on cosmology. By 1984 he had produced a first draft of A Brief History of Time. However Hawking was to suffer a further illness.

Hawking was given a computer system to enable him to have an electronic voice. It was with these difficulties that he revised the draft of A Brief History of Time which was published in 1988. The book broke sales records in a way that it would have been hard to predict. Of course Hawking has received, and continues to receive, a large number of honors. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974, being one of its youngest fellows. He was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honor in 1989. Hawking has also received many foreign awards and prizes and was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.