Hawking helped Canada

Photo: Contributed

UPDATE 5:17 a.m.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, who died early today at his home in Cambridge, England at the age of 76, elevated Canada's profile in the physics community in 2008 when he accepted a research post at the country’s "crown jewel" of theoretical physics study.

Hawking took on the title of distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont., and visited the facility in the summer of 2010 and again in 2012.

His arrival in 2010 came several months after the institute named a new wing at its Waterloo facility after the wheelchair-bound scientist.

In a video conference prior to his visit, Hawking said the institute's chosen focus on quantum theory and space-time was close to his heart.

Hawking, who also visited the underground SNOLAB neutrino observatory in Sudbury, Ont., in 1998 and 2012, became a scientific celebrity through his theories on black holes and the nature of time, work that he carried on despite becoming paralyzed by motor neurone disease.

His 1988 book “A Brief History of Time” was an international bestseller; “A Briefer History of Time,” intended to be more accessible, followed in 2005.

ORIGINAL 9:23 p.m.

Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind ranged across time and space though his body was paralyzed by disease, has died, a family spokesman said.

"He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years," his children Lucy, Robert and Tim said in a statement.

The best-known theoretical physicist of his time, Hawking wrote so lucidly of the mysteries of space, time and black holes that his book, "A Brief History of Time," became an international bestseller, making him one of science's biggest celebrities since Albert Einstein.

Even though his body was attacked by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, when Hawking was 21, he stunned doctors by living with the normally fatal illness for more than 50 years..