What did Stephen Hawking’s father want him to study?
Stephen William Hawking, born in Oxford (1942 – 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death.
Hawking graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Oxford. His father was a medical doctor, and wished for Hawking to follow in his footsteps.
During his high school studies he concentrated on his advanced courses in chemistry, and mathematics as his minor subject. Just to try, Hawking took part in the qualifying examination for the University of Oxford and passed with recommendation, which allotted him a scholarship for his studies. At the University of Oxford he majored in physics, despite wanting to originally major in mathematics. He later wrote his dissertation on, the “Properties of Expanding Universes” at the University of Cambridge where he obtained his Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology in 1965.
Hawking died “peacefully” at his home in Cambridge, England, early in the morning of 14. March 2018, at the age of 76.
