On Wednesday, March 14th, 2018, Stephen Hawking passed away at age 76. When he was a graduate student, he discovered that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This disease would destroy his nervous system, leaving him paralyzed. In 1963, he was given only a few years to live. Stephen lived on for much longer than a few years, and arguably became the world’s smartest physicist.

“What a triumph his life has been,” said Martin Rees, a Cambridge University cosmologist, Dr. Hawking’s longtime colleague. “His name will live in the annals of science; millions have had their cosmic horizons widened by his best-selling books; and even more, around the world, have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds — a manifestation of amazing willpower and determination.”