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By Roger Highfield on

Stephen Hawking Pictures Released

We have commissioned a series of photographic portraits of Professor Hawking to celebrate his 70th birthday at the end of this week. He is best known for his work on time, black holes and the Big Bang. But in a New Scientist interview to celebrate his birthday, he admits he spent most of the day thinking about women. "They are," he says "a complete mystery."

Post written by Roger Highfield

The Science Museum has commissioned a series of photographic portraits of Professor Hawking to celebrate his 70th birthday at the end of this week.

He is best known for his work on time, black holes and the Big Bang. But in a New Scientist interview to celebrate his birthday, he admits he spent most of the day thinking about women. “They are,” he says “a complete mystery.”

In the background of this photograph, there’s Marilyn Monroe, whom Hawking describes as “an old girlfriend of mine.”

The birthday portraits were taken by Sarah Lee in Prof Hawking’s office at the University of Cambridge, where he directs research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.

Another of Sarah’s images will adorn a new display at the museum, which he calls ‘one of my favourite places,” to celebrate his life and his achievements.

A few days ago, I myself found in his office in the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Mathematical Sciences, seven curving, stylish pavilions of brick, metal, steel and stone, along with Ian Blatchford and Heather Mayfield, Director and Deputy Director of the Science Museum  to thank Prof Hawking in person for his help.

Hawking has contributed to the new display at the museum, which opens on January 20, along with his daughter Lucy, with whom he has worked on science books aimed at children.

Curators Boris Jardine and Alison Boyle have selected objects and papers from his archives for this celebration of his life and science, along with audio of his synthetic voice.

Tributes to the world’s best-known scientist and author of the runaway bestseller, A Brief History of Time have poured in.

Hawking has had a research centre named after him at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and, earlier this week, eminent researchers expressed their respect for his life and achievements

The BBC Radio 4 has invited the public to ask Hawking questions and aired a series on the thoughts, concerns and humour of this icon of modern science

A scientific conference started today on the state of the universe which will culminate with a public symposium on his birthday, 8 January, when he will be joined by Astronomer Royal Lord (Martin) Rees, newly-minted Nobellist Prof Saul Perlmutter and Prof KipThorne, who gave the world wormholes and time travel.

Roger Highfield

Roger Highfield is the Science Director at the Science Museum Group, a member of the UK's Medical Research Council and a visiting professor at the Dunn School, University of Oxford, and Department of Chemistry, UCL. He studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford and was the first person to bounce a neutron off a soap bubble. Roger was the Science Editor of The Daily Telegraph for two decades, and the Editor of New Scientist between 2008 and 2011. He has written or co-authored ten popular science books, most recently Stephen Hawking: Genius at Work, and has had thousands of articles published in newspapers and magazines.

Roger has written 172 posts

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2 comments on “Stephen Hawking Pictures Released”

  2. Happy birthday Mr. Hawking,
    If information can be created from nothing through the big bang then information can be uncreated back to nothing through the black hole, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that. If matter can come into existence then it must go out of existence at some point, if the law of balance is correct. This is why Jesus told mary, his close deciple, that nature must resolve back into itself
    Steven Hawking should return to his original stand on black holes.

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