I thought that with Stephen Hawking's passing I'd post some Hawking related "items" for those of you interested in learning more about his life and work. I'm definitely no expert but thought I'd share a few things that had an impact on me the first being his world famous book, A Brief History of Time.
What's so special about this book is that it takes complex mathematics and theories about the cosmos and "dumbs" it down for those of us who weren't physics or math majors. What stuck out to me the most in this book were his theories about the shape of the universe. He says the universe could either be globe shaped, a plane, or saddle shaped (kind of curving up or down at opposing sides of a plane). Some of what he writes will blow your mind because I can almost guarantee the average person hasn't thought about the universe the way Stephen Hawking has.
If you haven't seen it, the movie The Theory of Everything is a must see. If you like Eddie Redmayne or Felicity Jones you'll enjoy this movie. It's interesting to see the timeline of Stephen's life as he went from precocious kid to world famous intellectual whose illness kept him bound to his wheelchair.
If any of you all have other Stephen Hawking related experiences, please feel free to share in the comments. Here's some quotes from Stephen Hawking:
"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."
"Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it."
"I am just child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer."
(quotes from Brainy Quote)