Professor Stephen Hawking , the mega-genius physicist behind A Brief History of Time,
has become an unlikely pop culture icon.
But while you may know some of his life story from watching the Oscar-winning film The Theory
of Everything, there's still plenty of things you probably don't know about the world's
smartest man.
Here's a look at what most people don't know about Stephen Hawking.
Three years to live...over 50 years ago
Before Hawking even started discovering mind-bending science stuff, he was already defying it.
See, when Hawking was only 21, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known
as Lou Gehrig's Disease, and doctors told him he only had three years to live.
That was more than half a century ago, proving that for all our knowledge, there's still
a lot we don't know yet.
Family turmoil
While the popular image of Hawking is "loner genius," he's actually been married twice
and has three children.
But as it was shown in The Theory of Everything, neither of those marriages had a happy ending.
After leaving his first wife, Jane, for one of his nurses, he later divorced her as well.
No matter how smart you are, the one equation nobody has ever quite solved is... love.
Role model
Given that he's probably the most famous person in a wheelchair this side of Professor X,
Hawking has made it part of his life mission to be a role model for disabled children.
Not only has he become involved in numerous charities as well as the Paralympics, he frequently
visits disabled children in hospitals in order to show them that no matter how tough things
seem, you can still succeed in life.
His role as a real life superhero makes even more sense considering Hawking has said that
he idolizes Superman.
Well, Hawking may not be able to fly or shoot lasers from his eyes, but he already has Superman's
most important power: the ability to inspire hope.
Then again, despite his heroic idol, Hawking wants to explore his bad side in an interesting
way...
He wants to be a Bond Villain
Everyone has to have some kind of goal in life, right?
Hawking's is pretty simple: he wants to be a Bond villain.
He told Wired, "My ideal role would be a baddie in a James Bond film.
I think the wheelchair and the computer voice would fit the part."
How cool would that be?
He talks using his cheek muscle
So you might be wondering how Stephen Hawking can communicate given that he can't, you know,
move.
Well you're wrong about that!
He can move…his cheek muscle.
Basically, there's a laser on his glasses scanning an alphabet of letters.
When it points at the letter he wants, he twitches his cheek, and it selects the correct
letter.
It's then fed through the computerized voice-box, which was originally given an American accent,
even though Hawking is actually British.
He said that he considered having it fixed, but decided the American robot voice was now
kind of his trademark.
He played with Pink Floyd
Hawking has participated in all sorts of creative projects over the years, from Star Trek to
Monty Python to The Simpsons.
But perhaps his oddest crossover work was appearing as a vocalist on not one, but two
Pink Floyd albums.
Now we know where T-Pain got his schtick from...
"Never thought I’d be on a boat / It’s a big blue watery road / Poseidon, look at
me!”
He made an anti-obesity video
Of the many issues Hawking has taken a public stand on, one of the closest to his heart
may be obesity.
In 2016, Hawking made a heartfelt video imploring individuals and communities to work to stop
obesity, saying "the solution is simple: More physical activity and change in diet.
It's not rocket science."
“And for what it’s worth, how being sedentary has become a major health problem is beyond
my understanding.”
He believes in aliens
Hawking's a genius scientist, so it makes sense that he believes in life beyond our
planet.
You may be surprised to discover, though, that Hawking thinks humanity should be very
afraid if we ever do encounter another intelligent species.
After all, our own history of exploration shows the dangers of two technologically unequal
societies meeting.
"I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus
first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”
And it's not just aliens we have to worry about.
Robots are a real danger too.
"Artificial intelligence could be a real danger in the not-too-distant future.
It could design improvements to itself and outsmart us all.”
Well, thanks for the nightmares, Professor Hawking.
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