Professor Hawking died in 2018 and is renowned for his astrophysics and motor neurone disease diagnosis.
Two UK cultural institutions have acquired a collection of Professor Stephen Hawking’s papers and personal belongings. The gained belongings will act as an unforgettable time capsule of his career and life.
It follows an agreement between the Science Museum Group, the government, and the Cambridge University Library. The complete contents of his office will be preserved at London’s Science Museum. Moreover, few picked highlights will go on exhibit early in 2022.
It will cover one of his first voice synthesizers, one of his last wheelchairs, scientific bets signed with his thumbprint. Additionally, the letters he wrote to presidents, popes, and scientists. Also, the museum will be a pair of his glasses which had a sensor on them. He used to control the sensor by twitching his cheek.
The earliest generations of his communication equipment were controlled by hi finger clickers. However, by 2008, he could not use his fingers, so they developed a system on the spectacle.
The glasses had an infrared LED and receiver, and they plugged it into an analogue blink switch. The switch then converted the signals into an on-off switch.
Stephen Hawking is believed to be one of the greatest minds of the last century.
What does the archive contain?
The archive at Cambridge University contains 10,000 pages of professor Stephen Hawking’s work. Moreover, it will live under the same roof as the papers of his idol Sir Isaac Newton. Additionally, the work of Charles Darwin. It means three of the most critical archives will be available in one place.
Professor Stephan Hawking lived for over five decades with his motor neurone disease. In the end, his ashes were interred in Westminster Abby, alongside Sir Isaac.
He began his graduate career at the University of Cambridge and occupied an office there shortly before his death.
Professor Hawking’s PhD thesis was made freely available in 2017. At the time, he said, each generation stands on the shoulder of those who have gone before them. Just as he did as a young PhD student at Cambridge.
It is hoped that the vast scientific treasure trove will serve today’s young scientists.
