If you have seen a picture of the mature Stephen Hawking, you almost certainly remember what he looked like. The movie "The Theory of Everything" starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones tells the story of his early life and career. I thought it was one of the most moving and adult movies I have ever seen. Note: there are many movies, books and other works by the same title that have nothing to do with the famous scientist.
A young, very intelligent and imaginative but socially illiterate young male grad student at Cambridge University suddenly finds that his body doesn't work well. In the movie and some news articles, he is said to have the very debilitating disease is called "motor neuron" disease. I have the idea that it is the same as what is also called "Lou Gehrig's disease" and also "ALS" (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) but there may be some individual or scientific differences between one version and another. The guy is a genius, in fact, a super genius but physically unable and maybe emotionally unable to fit in with the grad student crowd.
You probably know that this genius physicist and cosmological thinker died a few days ago at age 76. There are articles on the internet asking how a man with the very seriously limiting disease he had, managed to live so long. He was smart, he was well-cared for and he was iconic. Nobody was so important and at the same time, so instantly recognizable. The movie The Theory of Everything shows his diagnosis, his first marriage that resulted in three children now living and the tremendous burden his wife Jane carried, to care for him, love him, and raise their children. Eventually, they managed to afford a nurse for the man and he and the nurse grew closer and closer. Eventually, Jane and Stephen divorced and he married the nurse. Something like five years later, Stephen divorced a second time.
I just learned today that Jane Hawking is more formally Dr. Jane Wilde Beryl Hawking, a professor of medieval Spanish poetry. She is the author of Music to Move the Stars and a subsequent revision of that book, Traveling to Infinity, both stories of her life with Stephen. If you watch the movie, you may be interested to know that Jane and Jonathan Jones married.
If you want to stretch your empathy and understanding of life, watch The Theory of Everything and pay attention.
