The smartest man in the world has passed away today. He was 76 years old. Stephen Hawking was a brilliant theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astronomer, and mathematician. He was one of the greatest scientists in our lifetime.
In 1963, Hawking was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease called ALS (or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). The doctors told him he was going to live for only a few years. But his condition progressed slowly and he managed to survive for a few more decades. Just two years after he was diagnosed, Hawking married his girlfriend Jane Wilde who took care of the wheelchair-bound scientist for the next 30 years.
In 1995, Jane Wilde divorce Stephen Hawking. In an interview with the Independent UK, Wilde admitted the reason for their break-up is that she feels Hawking has “left behind” the family when he started to gain fame and recognition for his scientific works.
In another interview with Radio Times, Wilde said that people started to take advantage of his husband. She said, “I rather felt that the family had been left behind. To me, Stephen was my husband and the father of my children; one does not say to one’s husband, “Oh, you’re so clever! I must worship the ground under your feet, or in this case, wheels.” I found this kind of sycophantic attitude – the attitude adopted by so many people around Stephen – exceptionally frustrating and, of course, it grew a lot worse when we finally had to engage carers.”
She continued… “I was, I suppose, very innocent. I expected that carers came into the home to help look after the disabled person and respect the rest of the family. Very few of them did that. I was desperate; I didn’t think I could carry on because I was so drained.”
Jane Wilde remarried so did Hawking. Their tragic romance was told in a memoir written by Jane called “Travelling to Infinity”. That memoir became the basis for the script to the 2014 movie The Theory of Everything.