Shropshire and Mid Wales remember visits by genius Stephen Hawking
A world-famous physicist he may have been but when Professor Stephen Hawking - who has died at the age of 76 - visited Knighton’s Spaceguard Centre, he was just another member of the public.
There was no special treatment asked for or given. He booked as part a party of four and joined other slightly startled tour members for a look around the Mid Wales observatory.
Spaceguard centre owner Jay Tate admitted he was surprised, but delighted, when Professor Hawking went on the tour and was then happy to pose for photographs afterwards.
Shropshire Star comment: Professor Stephen Hawking was an inspiration to all of us
He said: “The first we knew it was him was when he got out of the van and was wheeled up to the front door.
“It was an honour. He is a great communicator and a quite brilliant mathematician, probably the most brilliant of the century.”
Professor Hawking, who was a regular visitor to our region, inspired people of all ages and changed our thinking on the cosmos. It was a remarkable feat for a man stricken with motor neurone disease.
He met the Queen several times and spent time with many world leaders.
Happy to pose for photographs
But he had a common touch that captured the imagination of all who came across him, either in person or through his work.
After his trip to Knighton last year he stopped off at the nearby Horse and Jockey Pub for a meal.
In 2016, he stopped off in Ludlow and enjoyed a meal of soup and fish at Ego’s Kitchen and Wine Bar, again happy to pose for photographs with fellow customers.
Diagnosed with motor neurone disease in his early 20s, the acclaimed physicist was given just two years to live but he defied the medics' expectations and lived for a further 54.
The British scientist was famed for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including A Brief History of Time, which went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Lord Rees of Ludlow, who holds the most prestigious post in astronomy in the UK, said he met Prof Hawking at Cambridge University in 1964, describing him as “unsteady on his feet and speaking with great difficulty” following his diagnosis with a degenerative disease.
The former Shrewsbury School student, who is now Astronomer Royal, said: “Even mere survival would have been a medical marvel, but of course he didn’t just survive. He became one of the most famous scientists in the world.”
Stephen Hawking and Lord Rees worked together in recent years on the Breakthrough Life in the Universe Initiatives. He said: “He was diagnosed with a deadly disease and his expectations dropped to zero.
“He himself said everything that happened since then was a bonus – and what a triumph his life has been.
“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 will-power and determination.”
Professor Hawking’s life continues to inspire young scientists, many of whom have become aware of him through the Oscar-winning film, The Theory of Everything.
Elliot Reynolds, a 25-year-old PhD student studying physics at Birmingham University, who originally comes from Shrewsbury, said: “Stephen Hawking was an influential physicist, a brilliant communicator and a scientific icon whose legacy truly immortalises him in the minds of the millions of people he influenced.
“His work with Sir Roger Penrose into the birth of space and time, and the images he painted of black holes evaporating by Hawking radiation, secures him a place as one of the great scientists of our age.
“While his outreach, from The Simpsons to A Brief History of Time, will influence aspiring scientists all over the globe for many years to come.”
Claire Clark, a science teacher from The Corbet School in Baschurch, said that Prof Hawking’s greatest achievement was to inspire people about the complexities of the universe.
She added: “He was inspirational not just because of the huge leap forward in our understanding of the universe but because of the physical difficulties he had to overcome and endure to do it.”
And Noel Conway, a campaigner for a change in the law surrounding assisted dying, who lives near Shrewsbury, said: “He was a great man and a great inspiration to all of us suffering from MND.
“He also believed people should have choice at the end of their life.”
