1962 - received his BA degree at Oxford. 1963 - diagnosed with motor neurone disease. 1973 - left the Institute of Astronomy. 1974 - calculated that black holes should thermally create and emit subatomic particles, known today as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation. 1979-2009 - held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Cambridge. 1982 - awarded a CBE. 1989 - made a Companion of Honour. 1988 - A Brief History of time was published. 2007 - took a zero-gravity flight in a 'Vomit Comet' of the Zero Gravity Corporation.