Celebrities, fellow scientists, and fans alike took to social media to remember brilliant physicist and author Stephen Hawking, who died Tuesday at his home in Cambridge at the age of 76.
Hawking's life was already one that beat the odds, having been told he had just a few years to live after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or motor neurone disease in 1963. Instead, he lived a life full of incredible achievements in science including becoming the author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes. Many remembered Hawking as a man as funny as he was groundbreaking, and offered their condolences after news of his death broke.
"His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake. But it's not empty," tweeted scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson. "Think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of space-time that defies measure." Other prominent people and organizations within the science and technology community shared their warmest thoughts, condolences and thank yous to Hawking, including NASA, engineer and former astronaut Scott Kelly and Big Bang Theory actress and real-life neuroscientist Mayim Bialik. Other celebrities included former President Barack Obama and singer Katy Perry.
Actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar in 2015 for his portrayal of Hawking in the biopic The Theory of Everything, shared his own thoughts with the scientist in a statement to Page Six.
"We have lost a truly beautiful mind, an astonishing scientist and the funniest man I have ever had the pleasure to meet," he said of their brief meeting during the shooting of the film. "That meeting, he just emanated humor and wit and a joy of life. It became absolutely clear in meeting him that the illness is secondary."
