You don’t have to be a physicist or a crazy science lover to know about Stephen Hawking. The total badass and equally brilliant scientist has achieved a lot in his illustrious career that we can only imagine. But there are certain things we still don’t know about him. And, that brings us to his personal and family life.
Robert, Lucy, and Timothy Hawking would not have been what they are now if Stephen Hawking would not have been this famous, worldwide. Robert would have been a mediocre employee at Microsoft, Lucy a journalist, and Timothy just a marketing officer in a toy manufacturing company.
Even when you search Robert’s and Timothy’s name in the search engine, you’ll see that they are known as the son of great Stephen – not by their own profession and identity. Isn’t that some sort of fact?
Come on; let’s know more of such facts, here…
Robert, as a child, wanted to be like his father
Born in 1967, two years after Stephen married Jane. Then came the first child of Stephen and Jane – Robert. It was said that Robert George Hawking wanted to become a scientist as his father. No doubt, Stephen was a source of inspiration for his son; however, the hardship his father went through the development of several theories made Robert change his mind.
Robert, after changing his mind, decided to pursue his career as a software engineer and graduated from University of Oxford.
Timothy used to prank his father
Timothy, the youngest son of Stephen, was mischievous in his early days. Tim certainly didn’t enjoy his childhood because of his ill father but didn’t miss a chance to entertain himself. His father Stephen had a machine which supported him to converse whenever he wanted.
In an interview, before the release of ‘The Theory of Everything’, Timothy confessed he used to program his father’s speech machine with swear words and enjoyed whenever the machine came into use.
The famous ALS ice bucket challenge
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclereosis (ALS) has gradually paralyzed Stephen Hawking over the decades. There was a trend some years back named ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ which came into existence with the idea of helping the ALS patients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZV_3n_fdQg&spfreload=10
Following that, Stephen Hawking nominated his 3 children to accept the ice bucket challenge. Stephen was suffering from pneumonia and nominated his children saying it won’t be wise of him to get the cold water poured on him. In a video recorded by the closed ones of the Hawking family, you can see the whole happenings and Stephen talking with the help of his speech machine.
Robert, Lucy, and Timothy, the three children of Stephen, gladly accepted the challenge as awareness against the ALS.
Stephen’s first child was portrayed in ‘The Theory of Everything’
‘The Theory of Everything’ is a movie based on the memoir (Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen) written by Stephen Hawking’s first wife Jane Hawking. Jane and Stephen’s first child Robert was also portrayed in the movie.
Actor Tom Prior played the role of seventeen years young Robert while Rufus Taylor was assigned the role to act as a two years old Robert Hawking. A baby named Lottie Hamilton was shown as the newly born Robert in the movie.
Lucy has co-authored a series of book with his father
Stephen Hawking’s second child Lucy has been working with a range of distinguished scientists, including her father, on the series named George Greenby. With the ideas of her father and herself, Lucy has written the book named ‘George and the Big Bang’ which is the third book under the same George Greenby series.
Do you know any other facts that we don’t know? Let us know on the comments below