Reports are coming in that Stephen Hawking has died peacefully at the relatively ripe age of 76. His death comes only 55 years after he was given two years to live. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5498269/Professor-Stephen-Hawking-dead-76.html
I've read about 75% of his book A Brief History of Time. I'd like to finish it one day, but OH MAN The book has a way of making you feel smart enough to be a physicist until the last couple of chapters, where it smacks you in the face with your own ignorance and doesn't even try to allow mere mortals to enter the realm of understanding. My impression from reading his work is that he was not just a genius, but a genuinely likable, witty, funny, loving, optimistic human being whom I wish to have met. Yes, I said funny. There are laughs to have when you read enough of Hawking. He's the incomparable example of how physical limitations can be overcome with intelligence and thirst for life. What a great guy, and what a life lived!
Stephen Hawking’s last paper may lead to proof of a multiverse https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/stephen-hawking-multiverse/